GIFT  OF 

Redlands  University 


UNIVERSITY    SERMONS. 


SERMONS 


DELIVERED 


THE   CHAPEL   OF   BROWN   UNIVERSITY, 


BY 
•«  • 


FRANCIS  WAYLAND, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  REDLANDS  LIBRARY 

THIRD     EDITION. 


BOSTON: 
GOULD      AND      LINCOLN 

NEW    YOKK: 

SHELDON,  LAMPORT,  AND  BLAKEMAN. 
1854. 


fe-b-.     }i 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1848,  by 

FRANCIS    WAYLAND, 

In    the  Clerk's  Office    of   the  District  Court  of  the  District  of 
Rhode  Island. 


STEREOTYPED  AT  THE 
BOSTON  TYPE  AND  STEREOTYPE  FOUNDRY. 


Uj  36  u. 


PREFACE. 


THE  following  sermons,  as  the  title-page  indicates, 
were  delivered  in  the  college  chapel  on  Sabbath  after- 
noons, before  the  officers  and  students  of  Brown 
University.  With  the  exception  of  the  tenth  and 
fourteenth  sermons,  they  were  all  originally  prepared 
for  this  religious  service.  Having  been  written  at 
various  intervals,  during  a  period  of  four  years,  in 
preparing  them  for  the  press,  they  have  been  so  ar- 
ranged as  to  form  something  like  a  series  of  discourses 
on  what  I  suppose  to  be  the  most  important  doctrines 
of  the  gospel.  The  sermons  on  the  revolutions  in 
Europe  were  written  immediately  after  the  accounts 

"  were  received  of  the  events  to  which  they  relate,  and 

Ns 
*  are  added  because  they  treat  of  subjects  at  present  of 

universal  interest. 
NJ 

It  has  been  the  design  of  the  author,  in  making 
"-this  selection  from  the  discourses  which  he  has  deliv- 
ered to  his  pupils,  to  present  a  plain  exhibition  of  the 


IV  PREFACE. 

way  of  salvation  by  Christ.  He  publishes  them,  in 
the  hope  that,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  they  may  be 
the  means  of  directing  the  attention  of  the  young  to 
the  importance  of  personal  religion. 

BEOWN  UNiTEESiTT/iVbu.  15,  1848. 


CONTENTS 


SERMON   I. 
THEORETICAL  ATHEISM. 

TEXT.  —  "  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God."  —  Psalm 
liii.  1 1 

SERMON   II. 
PRACTICAL  ATHEISM. 

TEXT.  —  "  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God."  —  Psalm 
liii.  1 16 

SERMON   III. 
THE  MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.     LOVE  TO  GOD. 

PAUT  I. 

TEXT.  —  "  For  all  have  sinned,  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God." 
—  Romans  iii.  23. —  "I  know  you,  that  ye  have  not  the  love  of 
God  in  you."  —  John  v.  42 31 

SERMON    IV. 
THE  MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.     LOVE  TO  GOD. 

PART  II. 

TEXT.  — "Even  as  they  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge, 
God  gave  them  over  to  a  reprobate  mind."  —  Romans  i.  28 47 

SERMON  V. 

THE  MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.     LOVE  TO  MAN. 

TEXT.  —  "  And  the  second  is  like  unto  it,  namely,  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself."  —  Matthew  xxii.  36. Go 


VI  CONTENTS. 

SERMON   VI. 

THE  FALL  OF  MAN. 

TEXT.  —  "  By  one  man's  disobedience  many  were  made  sinners."  — 
Romans  v.  19 80 

SERMON  VII. 
JUSTIFICATION  BY  WORKS  IMPOSSIBLE. 

TEXT.  —  "  Therefore  by  the  deeds  of  the  law,  there  shall  no  flesh  be 
justified  in  his  sight."  —  Romans  m.  20 94 

SERMON   VIII. 

PREPARATION  FOR  THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  MESSIAH. 


TEXT.  —  "  When  the  fulness  of  time  was  come,  God  sent  forth  his 
Son."  —  Galatians  iv.  4.  —  "  The  world  by  wisdom  knew  not 
God."  — 1  Corinthiami.  21 106 


SERMON   IX. 

PREPARATION  FOR  THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  MESSIAH. 

PART  II. 

TEXT.  —  "Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make  straight  in  the 
desert  a  highway  for  our  God.  Every  valley  shall  be  exalted, 
and  every  mountain  and  hill  shall  be  made  low ;  and  the  crooked 
shall  be  made  straight,  and  the  rough  places  plain,  and  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be  revealed,  and  all  flesh  shall  see  it  to- 
gether, for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it."  —  Isaiah 
xl.  3,  4 122 

SERMON  X. 
THE  WORK  OF  THE  MESSIAH. 

PART    I. 

TEXT.  —  "  God  sent  forth  his  Son,  made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the 
law,  to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law." — Galatians 
iv.  4,  5 137 


CONTENTS.  VU 

SERMON    XI. 

THE  WORK  OF  THE  MESSIAH. 

PART  II. 

TEXT.  — "  Thou  hast  ascended  on  high,  thou  hast  led  captivity 
captive,  thou  hast  received  gifts  for  men,  yea,  for  the  rebellious 
also,  that  the  Lord  God  might  dwell  among  them." — Psalm 
bcviii.  18 157 

SERMON    XII. 
JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH. 

TEXT.  —  "  A  man  is  justified  by  faith,  without  the  works  of  the  law." 
— Romans  iii.  28 173 

SERMON    XIII. 

A  DAY  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS  OF  NAZARETH. 
TEXT.—  Lukeix.  10—17 187 

SERMON    XIV. 

THE  FALL  OF  PETER. 
TEXT.  —  "  And  when  he  thought  thereon,  he  wept."  —  Mark  xiv.  72.  .  202 

SERMON    XV. 
THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST. 

TEXT.  —  "Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but  for  them  also  that  shall 
believe  on  me  through  their  word ;  that  they  all  may  be  one,  as 
thou,  Father,  art  in  me  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one 
in  us ;  that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me." 
— John  xvii.  20,  21 ..220 

SERMON   XVI. 

THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

TEXT.  —  "Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but  for  them  also  that  shall 
believe  on  me  through  their  word ;  that  they  all  may  be  one,  as 
thou,  Father,  art  in  me  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one 
in  us;  that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me." 
— John  xvii.  20,  21 '. 237 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

SERMON    XVII. 

THE  DUTY  OF  OBEDIENCE  TO  THE  CIVIL  MAGISTRATE. 

PART   I. 

TEXT.  —  "  Render  therefore  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Ccesar's, 

and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's." — Mattheio  xxii.  21 253 

SERMON    XVIII. 
THE  DUTY  OF  OBEDIENCE  TO  THE  CIVIL  MAGISTRATE. 

PART  II. 

TEXT.  —  "  Render  therefore  unto  Cocsar  the  things  that  are  Csesar's, 
and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's."  —  MattJiew  xxii.  21 265 

SERMON    XIX. 

THE  DUTY  OF  OBEDIENCE  TO  THE  CIVIL  MAGISTRATE. 

PART  III. 

TEXT.  —  "  Render  therefore  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's, 
and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's."  —  Matthew  xxii.  21....  278 

SERMON    XX. 

THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

PART   I. 

TEXT.  — "  Be  wise  now,  therefore,  O  ye  kings ;  be  instructed,  ye 
judges  of  the  earth.  Serve  the  Lord  with  fear,  and  rejoice  with 
trembling.  Kiss  the  Son,  lest  he  be  angry,  and  ye  perish  from 
the  way,  when  his  wrath  is  kindled  but  a  little.  Blessed  are  all 
they  that  put  their  trust  in  him."  —  Psalm  ii.  10 — 12 204 

SERMON    XXI. 

THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE. 


TEXT.  —  "Be  wise  now,  therefore,  O  ye  kings;  be  instructed,  ye 
judges  of  the  earth.  Serve  the  Lord  with  fear,  and  rejoice  with 
trembling.  Kiss  the  Son,  lest  he  be  angry,  and  ye  perish  from 
the  way,  when  his  wrath  is  kindled  but  a  little.  Blessed  are  all 
they  that  put  their  trust  in  him."  —  Psalm  ii.  10—12 312 


VflTHDRAV/N 

UNIVERSITY  OF  RtDLANOS  LIBRARY 

«*> 
THEORETICAL  ATHEISM. 


"THE  FOOL  HATH  SAID  IN  HIS  HEART,   THERE  IS  NO  GOD." 

Psalm  liii.  1. 

IT  is  scarcely  possible  for  us  to  converse,  even  for  a  few 
moments,  with  another  human  being,  without  instinctively  form- 
ing an  opinion  respecting  his  intellectual  capacity.  Although 
we  may  be  unable  definitely  to  express  the  reason  for  our  judg- 
ments, yet  every  one  has  formed  for  himself  a  standard  by  which 
he  estimates  the  ability  of  others.  We  readily  and  often  rashly 
assign  to  the  men  whom  we  meet  a  place  among  the  ordinary, 
the  distinguished,  or  the  highly  gifted ;  or  among  the  inferior, 
the  weak,  or  the  very  weak  in  intellect.  These  differences, 
however,  may  all  exist  within  the  normal  conditions  of  the 
human  understanding.  We  sometimes,  however,  meet  with  a 
man  whose  mind  does  not  obey  those  laws  which  govern  the 
operations  of  ordinary  intelligence.  We  find  ourselves  in 
the  presence  of  one  with  whom  we  can  hold  but  partial  and 
imperfect  communion.  We  perceive  that  the  being  before  us 
does  not  form  his  judgments  in  the  same  manner  as  the  rest 
of  mankind.  He  will  believe,  for  instance,  with  unquestioning 
confidence,  an  assertion  which  to  other  men  seems  absurd. 
He  will,  on  the  other  hand,  refuse  his  assent  to  the  plainest 
statement  of  fact,  and  hold  out  unconvinced  against  an  accu- 
mulation of  evidence  of  which  a  tithe  would  satisfy  a  man  of 
sober  understanding.  A  person  of  this  character,  I  think,  we 
always  designate  as  a  fool. 

But  this  is  not  the  only  form  in  which  folly  exhibits  itself. 
1 


2-  THEORETICAL    ATHEISM. 

We  sometimes  observe  men  who  are  convinced  of  the  ex- 
istence of  a  physical  or  a  moral  law,  and  yet  act  as  if  that 
which  they  believe  to  be  true  they  certainly  knew  to  be  false. 
An  idiot,  though  he  may  have  been  burned  by  the  fire,  will 
immediately  expose  himself  to  the  danger  of  being  burned 
again.  He  will  learn  wisdom  neither  from  observation  nor 
experience.  Thus  also  we  see  men,  for  the  sake  of  a  mo- 
mentary gratification,  deliberately  do  an  act  which  must  work 
the  wreck  of  character  and  the  loss  of  reputation,  and  subject 
them  through  life  to  the  gnawings  of  unavailing  remorse. 
Thus  the  inebriate  surrenders  himself  to  a  habit  which  he 
knows  to  be  destructive  of  all  peace  of  mind,  and  which  must 
render  him  inevitably  both  loathsome  and  contemptible.  Thus 
also  we  sometimes  observe  a  young  man,  endowed  with  prom- 
ising abilities,  for  whom  parents  and  friends  are  making 
innumerable  sacrifices,  before  whom  the  path  to  honorable 
distinction  is  plainly  set  open,  basely  squandering  his  time, 
associating  with  the  frivolous,  the  reckless,  and  the  profligate, 
and  choosing  for  his  portion  poverty,  remorse,  and  contempt, 
instead  of  affluence,  conscious  rectitude,  and  elevated  standing. 
When  we  see  men  thus  acting  in  deliberate  defiance  of  the 
dictates  of  their  own  understanding,  and  in  direct  opposition  to 
their  clearly  apprehended  interests,  I  believe  we  always  refer 
them  to  the  class  of  fools.  Though  endowed  with  the  power 
of  forethought,  they  act  as  though  they  were  deprived  of  it ; 
and  hence  we  number  them  with  those  on  whom  the  power  of 
forethought  has  never  been  bestowed.  The  former  of  these 
classes  may  be  denominated  theoretical,  and  the  latter  practi- 
cal, fools. 

It  is,  however,  to  be  remarked,  that  the  element  of  folly 
does  not,  by  necessity,  pervade  the  whole  intellectual  charac- 
ter. There  seem  to  exist,  in  this  respect,  what  may,  perhaps, 
not  inappropriately  be  denominated  mental  idiosyncracies. 
The  man  not  unfrequently,  on  some  subjects,  reasons  and 
•udges  like  other  men,  while,  upon  other  subjects,  he  is  liable 
to  the  charge  of  incorrigible  folly.  In  some  cases,  he  may 


THEORETICAL    ATHEISM.  3 

respect  the  precepts  of  practical  wisdom,  while  in  others  he 
seems  surrendered  up  to  the  dominion  of  hopeless  fatuity. 

Whatever  may  be  the  manner  in  which  folly  is  displayed, 
the  feelings  with  which  we  contemplate  it  are  marked  with 
sufficient  distinctness.  Where  a  man  is  a  hopeless  idiot,  we 
pity  him.  The  finger  of  God  has  touched  him,  and  we  are 
bound,  by  every  tie  of  brotherhood,  to  treat  him  with  thought- 
ful commiseration.  When,  however,  we  behold  folly  of  a 
mixed  character,  —  when  a  man  is  endowed  with  intelligence, 
and  acts  as  if  he  were  an  idiot,  —  I  think  we  are  conscious  of  a 
very  different  emotion.  The  man  can  see  some  things  clearly 
enough,  while  other  things,  equally  evident,  he  utterly  refuses 
to  see.  He  will  believe  what  he  chooses,  though  it  be  ever  so 
destitute  of  proof,  while  he  refuses  to  believe  that  which 
displeases  him,  though  established  on  the  most  irrefragable 
evidence.  We  cannot  but  believe  that  his  state  of  mind  is 
owing  to  some  hidden  and  by  no  means  commendable  bias,  and 
we  can  contemplate  him  neither  with  respect  for  his  intellect 
nor  confidence  in  his  integrity. 

The  same  sentiments,  in  most  respects,  are  awakened  by  the 
exhibition  of  practical  folly.  If  an  idiot,  who  has  never  been 
able  to  appreciate  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect,  throws 
himself  a  second  time  into  the  fire,  from  which,  at  imminent 
peril  to  ourselves,  we  have  rescued  him,  we  pity  his  sad 
calamity.  But  when  a  man  possessed  of  a  reasonable  soul  acts 
again  and  again  in  opposition  to  his  acknowledged  and  most 
vital  interests ;  when  he  sacrifices  all  that  renders  life  a  blessing 
for  a  contemptible  gratification ;  when,  hi  defiance  of  the  plain- 
est dictates  of  his  understanding,  he  repeatedly  calls  down 
upon  himself  the  direct  penalties  of  inexorable  law,  —  we  may, 
it  is  true,  pity  him,  but  our  pity  is  mingled  with  feelings  nearly 
allied  to  contempt. 

Indeed,  I  do  not  remember  any  emotions  more  universal 
than  those  with  which  we  contemplate  the  intellectual  charac- 
ter of  our  fellow-men.  We  admire,  nay,  we  almost  venerate, 
a  powerful  understanding  united  to  vast  reach  of  thought,  and 


4  THEORETICAL    ATHEISM. 

clear  'Sighted,  steadfast  continuity  of  purpose.  The  very  fact 
that  we  hold  intellectual  fellowship  with  a  mind  thus  endowed 
creates  within  us,  at  times,  an  emotion  akin  to  that  of  sub- 
limity. On  the  contrary,  as  universal  and  deep-seated  is  the 
disgust  awakened  within  us  by  striking  exhibitions  either  of 
theoretical  or  practical  folly.  I  do  not  know  but  we  feel  an 
emotion  of  self-esteem  arising  even  from  the  contempt  with 
which  we  never  fail  to  regard  it.  Nay,  "  'tis  not  in  folly  not  to 
scorn  a  fool."  The  theoretical  fool  laughs  at  the  practical 
fool.  The  practical  fool  despises  the  theoretical  fool.  Thus 
human  nature,  whether  wise  or  unwise,  bears  testimony  to  the 
estimation  in  which  this  attribute  is  held  throughout  the  uni- 
verse of  God. 

Such,  then,  is  the  nature  of  the  epithet  by  which  the  pen 
of  inspiration  designates  the  intellectual  character  of  him  who 
denies  the  existence  of  a  God.  It  declares  him  to  be  a  fool. 
Observe  also  the  force  of  the  expression.  It  does  not  make 
this  affirmation  solely  of  him  who  unblushingly  avows  his 
atheism,  but  even  of  him  who  cherishes  it  in  the  solitude  of 
his  own  bosom  — "  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart.  There 
is  no  God."  Let  us,  then,  during  the  remainder  of  this 
discourse,  attempt  to  illustrate  the  truth  of  this  sentiment  of 
inspiration. 

From  what  I  have  already  said,  it  will  at  once  appear  that 
the  denial  of  the  existence  of  God  may  be  either  theoretical  or 
practical.  It  is  theoretical  when  we  affirm  that  no  such  being 
as  God  exists.  It  is  practical  when,  professing  to  believe  that 
he  exists,  we  act  in  all  respects  as  though  we  believe  that  he 
did  not  exist.  In  the  present  discourse,  we  shall  treat  of  the 
first  of  these  errors. 

I  have  already  intimated  that  theoretical  folly  may  manifest 
itself  in  two  forms,  either  in  that  of  absurd  credulity,  or  of  absurd 
incredulity.  I  think  that  in  the  denial  of  the'  existence  of  God 
both  of  those  elements  of  folly  may  be  discovered. 

1.  It  is  surely  an  evidence  of  absurd  credulity  to  believe 
an  assertion,  respecting  any  subject  whatever,  when  no  evidence 


THEORETICAL    ATHEISM.  5 

is  brought  forward  to  sustain  it;  and  especially  when,  from 
the  necessity  of  the  case,  the  evidence,  if  it  did  exist,  is  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  human  understanding.  There  have  frequently 
appeared  impostors,  who  have  affirmed  that  they  should  never 
die.  Men  have  been  found,  who,  without  any  evidence,  have 
believed  their  assertions.  Has  not  the  whole  world  united 
in  declaring  them  to  be  absurdly  credulous  ?  Have  they  not 
always  been  believed  to  be,  so  far  as  this  subject  was  con- 
cerned, fools,  on  whose  judgment,  in  future,  no  reliance  could 
safely  be  reposed  ?  Men  have  frequently  predicted  that,  on  a 
particular  day,  the  world  would  be  burned  up,  and  they  have 
found  persons  who  believed  that  such  would  be  the  fact,  simply 
on  the  ground  of  these  predictions.  Mankind  have  laughed  at 
them  as  credulous  simpletons,  merely  because,  in  a  matter 
of  importance,  they  believed  an  assertion  unsupported  by  the 
shadow  of  evidence.  Suppose  that,  on  the  ground  of  your 
affirmation,  you  could  make  a  man  believe  that  molten  lava 
would  not  consume  him,  and  that,  relying  on  your  declaration, 
he  resolved  to  throw  himself  into  the  crater  of  a  volcano ;  hi 
what  estimation  would  you  hold  his  understanding  ?  Or  sup- 
pose that  it  were  asserted  that  every  star  in  the  firmament  is 
a  glorified  spirit,  placed  there  to  gaze  forever  on  the  events 
transpiring  on  this  little  earth.  Were  a  man  to  believe  this 
assertion,  sustained  by  no  evidence  —  nay,  where,  if  the  asser- 
tion were  true,  the  evidence  is  infinitely  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  human  faculties,  — could  we  believe  him  to  be  in  possession 
of  a  sound  understanding  ?  We  see,  then,  in  general,  that  with 
the  exception  of  intuitive  propositions,  the  human  mind,  in  the 
proper  exercise  of  its  faculties,  can  never  believe,  unless 
through  the  medium  of  evidence,  and  that,  if  it  believe  any 
assertion  without  evidence,  we  always  consider  it  to  be  ab- 
surdly credulous. 

Now,    the   atheist  declares  to    us   that   there    is  no  God. 

What  is  the  proof  of  his  assertion  ?     By  what  syllogism  docs 

he  demonstrate  it  ?     What  is  his  major,  and  what  is  his  minor 

premise  ?     He  tells  us  that  he  has  never  seen,  nor  felt,  nor 

1* 


b  THEORETICAL    ATHEISM. 

heard  God ;  and,  therefore,  that  God  does  not  exist.  But  does 
nothing  exist  on  earth  which  has  never  manifested  itself 
either  to  his  senses  or  to  his  consciousness  ?  How  does  he 
know  but,  among  the  truths  which  have  thus  far  escaped  his 
notice,  one  may  be  the  existence  of  God  ?  Has  he  lived  for- 
ever, and  been  present  from  eternity,  throughout  the  immensity 
of  space?  Where  was  he  when  the  morning  stars  sang 
together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy  ?  How 
does  he  know  but  that  God  may  have  existed  where  and  when 
he  was  riot  ?  On  this  subject,  I  take  pleasure  in  introducing 
to  your  notice  a  remarkable  passage  from  Foster's  Essays  — 
a  volume  of  such  inestimable  value,  that  no  young  man  should 
consider  his  education  truly  commenced,  unless  he  has  given 
it  an  attentive  and  thorough  perusal. 

"  The  wonder  then  turns  on  the  immense  intelligence  by 
which  a  man  could  know  that  there  is  no  God.  What  ages 
and  what  lights  are  requisite  for  this  attainment !  This  intelli- 
gence involves  the  very  attributes  of  divinity,  while  a  God  is 
denied.  For,  unless  this  man  is  omnipresent,  unless  he  is  at 
this  moment  in  every  place  in  the  universe,  he  cannot  know 
but  there  may  be  in  some  place,  manifestations  of  a  Deity,  by 
which  even  he  would  be  overpowered.  If  he  does  not  know 
absolutely  every  tfgent  in  the  universe,  the  one  that  he  does 
not  know  may  be  God.  If  he  is  not  himself  the  chief  agent 
in  the  universe,  and  does  not  know  what  is  so,  that  which  is  so 
may  be  God.  If  he  is  not  in  absolute  possession  of  all  the 
propositions  that  constitute  universal  truth,  the  one  which  he 
wants  may  be,  that  there  is  a  God.  If  he  cannot  with  certainty 
assign  the  cause  of  all  that  he  perceives  to  exist,  that  cause 
may  be  a  God.  If  he  does  not  know  every  thing  that  may 
have  been  done  in  the  immeasurable  ages  that  are  past,  some 
things  may  have  been  done  by  a  God.  Thus,  unless  he 
knows  all  things,  —  that  is,  precludes  the  idea  of  another  Deity 
by  being  one  himself,  —  he  cannot  know  that  the  being  whose 
existence  he  rejects  does  not  exist.  But  he  must  knoio  that  he 
does  not  exist,  else  he  deserves  equal  contempt  and  com- 


THEORETICAL    ATHEISM.  7 

passion,  for  the  temerity  with  which  he  avows  his  rejection 
and  acts  accordingly." 

Such,  then,  my  brethren,  is  the  absurdity  of  the  assertion 
that  there  is  no  God.  It  is  an  assertion  not  only  unsustained 
by  evidence,  but  one,  the  truth  of  which  could  not  be  certainly 
known,  unless  the  assertor  were  himself  endowed  with  the 
attributes  of  the  Deity.  In  a  word,  I  think  that  any  one  who 
reflects  for  a  moment  upon  the  fewness  and  feebleness  of  the 
faculties  of  man,  and  then  upon  the  boundlessness  of  the  uni- 
verse, must  be  convinced,  that  the  assertion  that  God  does 
not  exist,  involves  within  itself  all  the  elements  of  the  most 
revolting  absurdity. 

I  have,  thus  far,  endeavored  to  show  that  atheism  is  absurd 
in  its  credulity.  I  shall  next  attempt  to  show  that  it  is  equally 
absurd  in  its  unbelief.  Not  only  docs  it  believe  without  the 
shadow  of  evidence,  nay,  where  evidence  is  by  necessity  im- 
possible, but  it  disbelieves  a  proposition  of  which  the  evidence 
is  interwoven  with  the  very  structure  of  the  human  under- 
standing. 

Before  entering  upon  this  part  of  our  subject,  allow  me  to  sug- 
gest a  single  explanation.  I  am  not  about  to  prove  to  you  the 
existence  of  God,  as  though  it  were  to  you  a  matter  of  doubt. 
You  need  no  such  proof.  You  all  believe  this  all-important 
truth,  and  no  illustration  of  mine  could  render  it  more  evident. 
The  belief  in  a  First  Cause,  a  superintending  Providence,  is  one 
of  the  ideas  common  to  our  race,  as  soon  as  the  mind  is  quick- 
ened into  even  incipient  activity.  So  necessarily  is  this  belief 
generated  among  the  first  forms  of  human  knowledge,  that  it 
presses  through  the  thick  covering  of  ignorance  which  com- 
monly overspreads  our  faculties  when  man  is  unenlightened 
by  revelation.  The  mind  of  the  creature  needs  the  idea  of  a 
Creator,  and  it  will  associate  this  idea  with  the  sun,  the  moon, 
or  the  planets,  nay,  with  four-footed  beasts  and  creeping  things, 
rather  than  live  destitute  of  a  belief  which  is  demanded  by  the 
necessities  of  our  intellectual  nature.  It  is  not,  then,  my  design 
to  prove  to  you  the  existence  of  a  God,  but  to  illustrate  to  you 


8  THEOKETICAL    ATHEISM. 

the  process  by  which  the  belief  in  his  existence  has  become 
universal.  In  doing  this,  I  hope  also  in  another  respect  to 
exhibit  to  you  the  absurdity  of  atheism. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  the  idea  of  power,  of  cause  and  effect,  is 
the  universal  and  spontaneous  suggestion  of  the  human  intelli- 
gence. It  springs  up  unbidden  arid  irrepressible  from  the  first 
perception  of  a  change.  We  cannot  conceive  of  a  change 
without  being  conscious  immediately  of  the  notion  of  a  cause  by 
which  it  was  effected.  This  law  of  the  human  mind  is  univer- 
sal, and  its  operation  may  be  as  readily  perceived  in  the  case 
of  a  child  as  of  a  philosopher.  You  may  easily  make  the 
experiment  for  yourselves.  Remove  a  child's  toy  from  one 
room  to  another,  and  he  will  instantly  ask  you  who  did  it. 
This  change  of  its  place  immediately  suggests  to  him  the  idea 
of  a  cause.  Tell  him  that  no  one  did  it,  that  it  took  place 
without  the  exertion  of  any  sufficient  power,  and  see  if  you 
can  make  him  believe  you.  Let  him  burn  his  hand  in  the 
fire,  and  see  if  you  can  induce  him  to  repeat  the  experiment. 
His  own  infantile  intelligence  has  attained  the  conviction  that 
like  causes  produce  like  effects,  and  no  argument  can  possibly 
eradicate  it.  But  suppose  it  were  otherwise  ;  suppose  that 
you  observed  a  child  to  be  entirely  destitute  of  this  suggestion, 
that  the  notion  of  cause  and  effect  never  seemed  to  govern  its 
conduct,  but  that  it  would  place  its  hand  in  a  flame  as  often  as 
an  opportunity  occurred,  without  being  able  to  arrive  at  the 
notion  that  the  fire  was  the  cause  of  its  pain.  You  would 
decide  at  once  that  the  child  was  an  idiot ;  and  you  would  not 
be  mistaken.  You  see  that  a  human  mind  cannot  be  deprived 
of  this  suggestion,  without  losing  an  essential  element  of  its 
original  intelligence. 

The  truth  which  I  wish  to  illustrate  was  forcibly  taught  by 
Dr.  Beattie,  when  he  wished  to  impress  upon  his  son  the  fact 
of  the  existence  of  God.  Tracing  the  letters  of  the  child's 
name  in  the  fresh  mould  of  the  garden,  he  sowed  in  the  lines 
some  ordinary  seeds.  Very  soon  the  son  discovered  his  own 
name  distinctly  growing  out  of  the  ground,  aud  demanded  of 


THEORETICAL    ATHEISM.  9 

his  father  the  cause  of  it.  Dr.  Beattie  at  first  told  him  it  was 
produced  by  chance  ;  but  the  child  would  not  believe  it,  nor 
could  he  be  persuaded  by  all  his  father's  ingenuity  that  it  was 
not  the  work  of  some  intelligent  agent.  From  this  incident, 
he  was  taught  the  idea  of  a  universal  cause.  I  think  that 
every  one  who  reflects  upon  this  occurrence  will  declare  that 
this  child,  in  insisting  upon  the  necessity  of  a  cause,  spoke  the 
language  of  human  nature. 

Now,  we  are  encompassed  on  every  side  by  changes  spring- 
ing up  around  us  in  infinite  variety.  Every  season  of  the 
year,  every  month,  every  day,  and  every  night,  nay,  every 
hour,  is  crowded  with  them -in  numbers  without  beginning  and 
without  end,  and  every  one,  when  we  reflect  upon  it,  by 
the  constitution  of  our  minds,  suggests  to  us  the  idea  of  a 
cause.  The  necessity  of  this  idea  is,  therefore,  pressed  upon 
us,  by  the  very  constitution  of  our  minds,  as  soon  as  we  begin 
to  observe  the  changes  continually  occurring  in  the  universe 
around  us. 

2.  Secondly,  when  we  examine  this  notion  of  cause  and 
effect,  we  perceive  that  at  first  it  is  satisfied  with  observing 
the  relation  of  antecedent  and  consequent  combined  with  the 
idea  of  power.  It  is  not  long,  however,  before  the  mind  proceeds 
farther,  and  asks  not  only  for  a  cause,  but  for  a  sufficient 
cause.  The  child  of  Dr.  Beattie  could  not  be  made  to 
believe  that  the  wind  and  the  rain  had  by  accident  deposited 
the  seeds  in  the  order  in  which  he  perceived  them.  He  knew 
that  this  must  have  been  done  by  a  cause  that  knew  his  name, 
and  could  spell  it,  and  form  the  letters  of  which  it  was  com- 
posed. Until  such  a  cause  could  be  suggested,  his  mind  could 
not  rest  satisfied.  So,  when  we  are  asked  what  causes  the 
growth  of  vegetation,  we  reply,  heat  and  moisture,  the  rain 
and  the  sunshine.  At  first,  this  explanation  may  seem  satis- 
factory ;  but  soon  the  elements  of  our  intelligence  require  us 
to  proceed  a  step  farther.  We  observe  the  innumerable  forms 
of  beauty  and  utility  springing  up  eveiy  where  around  us ;  we 
examine  the  wonderful  laws  by  which  every  process  of  vege 


10  THEORETICAL    ATHEISM. 

tation  is  governed ;  we  trace  the  relations  existing  between  the 
vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms ;  we  pursue  our  inquiries  into 
the  higher  ranks  of  being,  and  learn  the  habitudes,  the  in- 
stincts, the  uses  of  brutes,  and  the  faculties,  the  intelligence, 
and  the  development  of  man.  We  at  once  conclude  that  our 
first  conception  of  cause  is  wholly  inadequate  to  account  for 
the  changes  which  we  perceive.  The  drop  of  water  and  the 
beam  of  sunlight  could  never  in  strictness  be  the  cause  of  the 
matchless  beauty  with  which  the  earth  is  overspread.  We 
cannot  ascribe  to  senseless  matter  a  power  infinitely  transcend- 
ing that  of  the  highest  human  intelligence.  The  most  pro- 
found philosopher  would  be  pronounced  insane  were  he  to 
attempt  the  formation  of  a  blade  of  grass  ;  and  can  we  ascribe 
to  brute  matter  the  power  to  subject  the  elements  of  nature  to 
complicated  and  mysterious  law,  or  to  create  the  blushing 
loveliness  of  spring  or  the  rich  abundance  of  autumn  ?  We  at 
once  determine  that,  hidden  behind  these  visible  antecedents, 
there  must  exist  an  adequate  cause,  an  intelligent  power,  com- 
petent to  the  production  of  all  these  changes,  and  to  which  all 
that  we  see  is,  from  necessity,  subordinate.  We  are  thus 
led  to  conceive  of  an  underived  and  absolute  cause.  When 
the  mind  arrives  at  this  idea,  it  rests  satisfied.  It  demands 
nothing  more  ultimate.  The  mind  of  the  creature  reposes 
upon  the  conception  of  a  self-existent,  all-powerful,  and  all- 
wise  Creator,  and  it  is  henceforth  at  rest. 

3.  But,  supposing  that  we  have  arrived  at  the  notion  of 
underived  causation,  the  question  may  still  be  asked,  May  not 
several  independent  causes  originate  the  changes  which  are 
taking  place  around  us  ?  This  question  is  readily  answered  by 
examining  the  facts  in  the  case.  Every  thing  that  we  behold 
is  manifestly  a  part  of  one  universal  whole.  Every  law  is 
found  to  be  in  perfect  harmony  with  every  other  law.  Were 
the  various  forces  which  regulate  the  motions  of  our  system 
in  the  smallest  degree  modified,  universal  ruin  would  ensue. 
Every  thing  teaches  us  that  the  universe,  with  all  its  changes, 
is  nothing  more  than  the  realization  of  one  single  conception. 


THEORETICAL    ATHEISM.  11 

This  fact  excludes  the  idea  of  a  multiplicity  of  causes,  and 
teaches  us,  that  the  cause  of  causes,  the  absolute  causation,  is 
eveiy  where  one  and  the  same.  We  thus  arrive  at  the  idea 
of  a  universal  cause,  a  sufficient  reason  why  all  things  are, 
and  why  they  are  such  as  they  are  ;  that  is,  of  a  Creator  infi- 
nite in  power  and  unsearchable  in  wisdom. 

4.  When  we  reflect  upon  human  conduct,  we  find  that  we 
always  connect  the  outward  act  with  the  spiritual  disposition, 
or  intention,  from  which  it  proceeds.  Observing  them  in  this 
light,  we  perceive  in  eveiy  action  the  quality  of  right  or  vir- 
tue, or  of  its  opposite  wrong  or  vice.  We  know  that  the  con- 
stitution of  the  moral  beings  around  us  is  similar  to  our  own. 
We  refer  their  outward  manifestations  to  their  appropriate 
spiritual  dispositions,  and  hence,  from  their  actions,  we  judge 
men  to  be  either  virtuous  or  vicious.  Virtue  we  cannot  but 
esteem  and  venerate  ;  vice  we  cannot  but  despise  and  abhor. 
These,  I  think,  must  be  universally  considered  as  the  proper 
judgments  of  all  moral  intelligences.  Let  us  now  refer  these 
obvious  principles  to  our  judgments  respecting  the  first  and 
universal  cause.  We  observe  by  our  own  experience  that  our 
virtuous  actions  are  always  followed  by  happiness  and  that 
self-approbation  which  is,  in  itself,  an  exceeding  great  reward. 
We,  on  the  contrary,  observe  that  vicious  actions  are  followed 
by  pain  and  remorse,  and  a  fearful  looking-for  of  judgment. 
We  observe  that  the  same  consequences  follow  the  cor- 
respondent actions  of  others.  We  trace  the  vicissitudes  of 
nations,  and  observe  that  they  are  regulated  by  the  same  law. 
We  see  that,  irrespective  of  all  human  power  and  human 
foresight,  nay,  in  despite  of  all  the  wisdom  of  man,  virtue  is 
indissolubly  connected  with  happiness,  and  vice  with  miseiy. 
Here,  then,  is  an  order  of  sequence  established,  and  it  must 
have  been  established  by  the  universal,  the  all-pervading 
cause.  Here,  then,  we  behold  the  perpetual  acting  of  the 
Almighty  ;  and  from  it  we  learn  the  moral  attributes  which 
compose  his  character.  We  thus  are  taught  that  he  loves 
virtue  and  abhors  vice,  and  we  conclude  that  his  moral,  like  his 


12  THEORETICAL    ATHEISM. 

natural,  attributes  are  infinite.  We  thus  arrive  at  the  concep- 
.  tion  of  an  Almighty  Cause  who  is  infinitely  holy.  Thus  our 
intellectual  and  moral  natures  unite  in  ascribing  to  the  Creator 
every  perfection  of  which  we  can  conceive  in  an  infinite 
degree.  Such,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  result  to  which  the 
unbiased  faculties  of  the  human  mind  would  naturally  arrive. 

That  mankind  have  generally  arrived  at  this  result  is  by  no 
means  asserted.  The  apostle  Paul  declares  that  men  did  not 
like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  and,  therefore,  they 
exchanged  him  for  false  gods,  and  worshipped  and  served  the 
creature  rather  than  the  Creator.  What  I  intend  to  affirm  is, 
that  this  is  the  result  to  which  the  faculties  of  the  human  mind 
arrive,  whenever  they  are  employed  in  the  earnest  and  honest 
inquiry  after  God.  Nay,  more,  this  is  the  result  to  which 
they  actually  have  in  some  cases  arrived,  even  when  deprived 
of  the  light  of  revelation.  Thus  saith  the  apostle  to  the 
Romans  :  "  The  invisible  things  of  God,  even  his  eternal  power 
tnd  Godhead,  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the  things 
that  are  made."  Thus  also  saith  the  Psalmist :  "  The  heavens 
declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  showeth  forth 
his  handy  work."  Accordingly,  many  of  the  heathen  philoso- 
phers, but,  above  all,  Socrates,  from  an  observation  of  the 
works  of  creation  and  of  the  providential  dealings  of  God, 
arrived  at  a  conception  of  the  character  of  the  First  Cause  'very 
similar  to  that  which  I  have  described.  They  attained  to  this 
knowledge  without  the  assistance  of  revelation  ;  and  hence 
we  learn  that  this  attainment  is  within  the  reach  of  the  unas- 
sisted human  faculties.  If,  then,  men  have  not  commonly 
discovered  these  truths,  or  if,  having  discovered,  they  have  not 
retained  them  in  their  knowledge,  the  reason  is  to  be  found, 
not  in  the  inadequateness  of  their  intellectual  faculties,  but 
in  some  cause  of  an  entirely  different  character. 

Now,  the  atheist,  in  defiance  of  this  universal  suggestion 
of  the  human  intelligence,  affirms  that  there  is  no  God.  He 
thus  excludes  from  the  human  mind  the  idea  of  cause  and 
effect,  without  which  the  essential  nature  of  mind  would  be 


THEORETICAL    ATHEISM.  13 

changed.  Abolish  this  suggestion,  and  I  do  not  say  that  we 
should  be  destitute  of  mind,  but  it  would  not  be  the  mind  of  a 
man.  Again,  admit  the  idea  of  cause  and  effect,  and  suppose 
that  absolute  causation  resides  in  mere  physical  antecedents, 
and  we  utter  an  assertion  from  which  the  mind  even  of  child- 
hood revolts.  Again,  admit  the  idea  of  absolute  causation,  that 
is,  of  almighty  power  and  omniscient  wisdom,  and  deprive 
it  of  all  its  moral  attributes,  —  let  such  a  being  be  neither  holy, 
nor  good,  nor  merciful,  nor  just,  —  and  you  have  created  a  con- 
ception from  which  the  nature  of  man  recoils  in  unutterable 
dismay.  Thus,  atheism,  in  any  form  in  which  it  can  be  pre- 
sented, leads  us  at  once  to  intellectual  or  moral  absurdity. 
Thus,  he  who  denies  the  being  of  God  not  only  refuses  to 
believe  what  is  proven  on  incontrovertible  evidence,  but  he 
denies  the  existence  of  the  elementary  principles  of  human 
intelligence.  Were  he  thus  to  deny  a  fact  in  history,  or  a 
doctrine  of  philosophy,  he  surely  could  not  escape  the  imputa- 
tion of  egregious  folly. 

In  thus  stating  the  necessity  of  the  idea  of  a  Deity  to  the 
human  mind,  as  soon  as  its  faculties  are  at  all  developed,  I 
think  I  do  not  overstate  the  fact.  A  remarkable  illustration  of 
the  truth  of  what  I  have  said  has  been  presented  in  modern 
history.  You  know  that,  during  the  French  revolution,  the 
national  assembly  decreed  that  there  was  no  God,  and  that 
death  was  an  eternal  sleep.  There  speedily  followed  a  disso- 
lution of  the  elements  of  society,  an  anarchy  baptized  in 
blood.  The  authors  of  these  blasphemies  were  soon  alarmed 
at  the  results  of  their  own  labors,  and  quailed  before  the 
tempest  which  they  had  themselves  excited.  Robespierre 
himself  was  anxious  to  restore  the  worship  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  profoundly  remarking,  "  Were  there  no  God,  it  would 
be  necessary  for  us  to  form  one."  The  nation  rejoiced  to 
welcome  back  a  belief  demanded  by  the  principles  of  our 
nature,  and  without  which  civil  society  could  not  long  exist. 

But,  lastly,  the  belief  of  the  atheist  is  wholly  inoperative 
for  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  intended.  His  object  is,  by 
2 


14  THEORETICAL    ATHEISM. 

denying  the  existence  of  God,  to  banish  the  idea  of  immortality 
and  of  a  state  of  future  moral  retribution.  Thus,  in  the  case 
to  which  I  have  just  alluded,  the  assertion  that  death  is  an 
eternal  sleep  immediately  followed  the  denial  of  the  existence 
of  God.  But,  even  were  atheism  true,  it  furnishes  no  argu- 
ment whatever  against  either  of  these  all-important  truths.  It 
is  very  obvious  that  we  exist  now,  and  the  atheist  asserts  that 
we  exist  while  there  is  no  God.  Why,  then,  though  there  be 
no  God,  may  we  not  continue  to  exist  forever  ?  It  is  manifest 
that,  in  the  present  life,  individuals  and  nations  are  the  subjects 
of  moral  government,  misery  follows  the  gratification  of  law- 
less desire,  and  happiness  attends  upon  self-denying  virtue. 
The  atheist  asserts  that  all  this  occurs  on  earth,  while  there  is 
no  God ;  why,  then,  even  were  there  no  God,  might  not  the 
same  system  of  moral  government  be  carried  on  through 
eternity  ?  To  these  questions  no  answer  can  be  returned  ;  and 
hence,  were  atheism  true,  it  would  present  no  reason  what- 
ever why  we  should  not  exist  forever,  and  forever  reap  the 
due  reward  of  our  moral  actions. 

We  see,  then,  the  absurdity  of  atheism.  It  asserts  that 
which  cannot  be  known  to  be  true  by  any  finite  intelligence. 
It  denies  what  cannot  be  disbelieved  without  denying  the 
essential  laws  of  human  thought.  It  does  this  for  a  reason 
which  would  remain  unaffected  whether  the  assertion  were 
true  or  false. 

In  conclusion,  young  gentlemen,  let  me  urge  you  to  place 
this  truth  at  the  foundation  of  all  your  knowledge,  and  to 
make  it  the  ever-present  idea  by  which  all  your  moral  charac- 
ter is  formed.  Eschew  every  system  of  ethics  or  philosophy 
that  does  not  adopt  as  its  elementary  truth  the  existence  and 
attributes  of  God,  and  our  moral  accountability  to  him.  From 
this  truth  learn  to  draw  succor  in  the  hour  of  adversity, 
deliverance  from  the  assaults  of  temptation,  counsel  in  the 
day  of  prosperity,  and  sustaining  grace  in  the  article  of  death. 
Thus,  by  the  teachings  of  the  Spirit,  shall  you  grow  up  into  the 
stature  of  perfect  men  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  remember  always 


THEORETICAL    ATHEISM.  15 

to  shun,  as  you  would  your  most  dreaded  enemy,  the  man  who 
either  by  precept  or  practice  would  diminish  the  power  of  this 
truth  over  your  conduct.  Remember  that  it  is  the  fool  who 
hath  said  in  his  heart  there  is  no  God,  and  observe  that  inspira- 
tion has  assigned  the  reason  of  his  unbelief — "  Corrupt  are 
they  ;  they  have  done  abominable  works."  Thus  was  it  three 
thousand  years  ago,  thus  is  it  now,  and  thus  will  it  be  forever. 


PRACTICAL    ATHEISM. 


"THE  FOOL  HATH  SAID  IN  HIS   HEART,   THERE  IS  NO  GOD." 

Psalm  liii.  1. 

IN  the  preceding  discourse,  I  attempted  to  illustrate  the 
folly  of  theoretical  atheism.  I  there  intimated  that  this  folly 
existed  in  another  form  —  that,  whilst  we  believe  in  the  exist- 
ence of  God,  we  may  yet  act  as  though  there  were  no  God. 
This  I  termed  practical  atheism.  To  the  consideration  of  this 
exhibition  of  folly  let  me  now  request  your  attention. 

We  are  all,  I  trust,  satisfied  of  the  absurdity  of  theoretical 
atheism.  Our  reason  imperatively  demands  a  First  Cause  ;  our 
moral  and  intellectual  nature  imposes  upon  us  the  belief  in  his 
infinite  perfections. .  But  in  your  case  this  is  not  all.  This 
belief  has  been  instilled  into  your  minds  from  your  earliest 
infancy.  As  soon  as  you  opened  your  eyes  upon  creation, 
you  were  taught  that  "  the  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God, 
and  the  firmament  showeth  forth  his  handy  work."  The  first 
lesson  that  you  learned  was  the  prayer  that  your  mother  taught 
you.  Night  and  morning,  as  you  knelt  by  her  side,  you  have 
lisped  out  your  infantile  petition  to  "  Our  Father  who  art  in 
heaven."  I  trust  that  the  influence  of  these  blessed  instruc- 
tions has  been  obliterated  neither  by  the  turbulent  sports  of 
boyhood,  nor  the  graver  temptations  of  youth.  I  feel  conscious, 
then,  that  I  address  a  company  of  believers  in  the  existence 
of  God.  Whatever  may  be  your  errors,  theoretical  atheism  is 
not  to  be  numbered  among  them.  No  argument  could  shake 
your  belief  in  this  great  elementary  fact  which  lies  at  the 
foundation  of  all  true  knowledge. 


PRACTICAL    ATHEISM.  17 

But  while  all  this  is  so,  may  you  not  be  justly  liable  to  the 
charge  of  practical  atheism  ?  You  believe  that  there  is  one 
God.  You  do  well.  But  do  your  works  correspond  with  your 
belief?  If  they  do  not,  and  just  in  so  far  as  they  do  not,  you 
are  guilty  of  practical  atheism.  In  order  to  examine  this 
question  more  accurately,  let  us  proceed  to  unfold  the  concep- 
tion which  you  have  formed  of  the  existence  and  attributes 
of  God. 

1.  We  all,  I  presume,  involve  in  our  conception  of  God  the 
idea    of   personality.     One   of   the   first  lessons   of   science 
teaches  us  that  qualities  cannot  exist  without  a  subject,  nor 
energies  without  an  agent.    Black,   white,   hot,  cold,  cannot 
exist  of  themselves,  but  only  as  there,  is  something  in  which 
they  inhere.     So  we  can  form  no  conception  of  the  actual  ex- 
istence of  power,  wisdom,  goodness,  or  justice,  unless  there  be 
some  being  to  whom  these  attributes  belong;  that  is,  some 
agent  who  is  powerful,  and  wise,  and  good,  and  just.     To 
speak  of  the  First  Cause,  the  real  and  sufficient  reason  of  all 
things,  as  a  collection  of  attributes  without  any  actual  essence 
to  which  they  belong,  is  absurd.     Equally  absurd  is  it  to  speak 
of  the  First  Cause  as  an  abstract  notion.     An  abstract  notion,  a 
generalized  idea,  has  no  existence  whatever,  but  in  our  own 
thoughts.      The  abstract  idea  of  power  or  goodness,  as  of 
whiteness  or  blackness,  is  a  mere  conception,  a  state  of  our 
own  minds.     To  speak,  then,  of  the  all-sufficient  cause  as  an 
abstraction,  without  personality,  without  positive  existence,  is, 
as  it  seems  to  me,  to  ascribe  creative  power  and  wisdom  to 
the  changing  states  of  our  own  intellect.     I  do  not  know  that  any 
thing  can  possibly  be  more  absurd  than  such  a  notion  —  for  be- 
lief it  can  scarcely  be  called.     In  opposition  to  all  such  teach- 
ings we  conceive  of  the  Deity  as  an  actual  existence,  an  infinite 
being,  whom,  by  the  analogy  of  language,  we  term  person,  to 
whom  all  the  attributes  of  Divinity  by  necessity  belong. 

2.  To  this  Infinite  Being  we  involuntarily  ascribe  self-exist- 
ence.    He  is  the  cause  of  causes,  the  ultimate  reason  why 
every  thing  exists.     If  he  be  the  all-sufiicicnt  cause  for  all 


18  PRACTICAL    ATHEISM. 

other  existence,  he  must  be  the  ultimate  cause,  or  else  there 
must  be  a  succession  of  causes  without  beginning  or  end. 
which  is  absurd.  As  soon  as  we  reflect  upon  such  a  suppo- 
sition, we  are  conscious  that  it  is,  if  I  may  be  allowed  the 
expression,  an  unthinkable  conception.  When,  on  the  con- 
trary, we  attain  to  the  idea  of  an  underived  and  self-existent 
cause,  the  craving  of  our  intellect  is  satisfied.  It  is  as  such  a 
being  that  the  Scriptures  always  speak  of  God.  "  Thus  saith 
the  Lord,  I  am  the  first  and  I  am  the  last,  and  besides  me 
there  is  no  God.  I  am  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  begin- 
ning and  the  ending,  saith  the  Lord,  which  is,  and  which  was, 
and  which  is  to  come,  the  Almighty." 

This  one  truth  admitted,  we  immediately  perceive  that  there 
must  exist  an  infinite  difference  between  the  Creator  and  the 
creature.  Creation  is  derived,  contingent,  accidental.  The 
Creator  is  underived  and  necessary.  Creation  might  or  might 
not  have  existed.  The  self-existent  must  always  have  been. 
Every  thing  else  is  from  its  nature  changeable.  He  is  essen- 
tially unchangeable.  Were  creation  multiplied  a  hundred  fold, 
he  would  be  still  the  same.  Were  it  all  annihilated,  he  would 
still  remain  the  unalterable,  independent  I  AM. 

3.  Intimately  associated  with  the  attribute  of  self-existence 
is  that  of  eternity,  which  reason,  as  well  as  revelation,  teach  us 
to  ascribe  to  the  Deity.  The  idea  of  eternity  arises  spon- 
taneously in  our  minds,  as  soon  as  we  begin  to  think  upon 
duration.  We  know  that  we  have  existed  but  for  a  very  few 
years,  and  that  duration  existed  before  we  were  created. 
When  did  it  commence  ?  We  go  backward  to  the  origin  of 
our  race,  we  ascend  to  the  dawn  of  the  creation  of  our  system, 
—  still  our  idea  of  duration  is  unexhausted.  We  begin  with 
the  star  that  was  last  created ;  we  think  back  to  the  moment 
of  the  creation  of  that  which  next  preceded  it ;  we  go  back  to 
the  era  when  one  and  another  was  not,  until  we  arrive  at  the 
period  when  all  was  darkness,  ere  yet  God  had  said,  "  Let  there 
be  light,"  —  and  we  have  not  yet  even  diminished  our  conception 
of  duration.  We  have  exhausted  our  powers  of  measurement, 


PRACTICAL    ATHEISM.  19 

but  duration  still  stretches  backward  to  infinity.  We  have 
traced  creation  to  its  origin ;  but  when  did  the  Creator  begin  to 
exist  ?  What  limits  can  we  assign  to  his  duration  ?  We  feel 
at  once  that  to  affirm  beginning  to  the  uncreated  one  is  absurd. 
We  bow  down  in  humble  adoration,  and  exclaim  with  the 
Hebrew  lawgiver,  "  Before  the  mountains  were  brought  forth, 
or  ever  thou  hadst  formed  the  earth  or  the  world,  even  from 
everlasting  to  everlasting,  thou  art  God." 

This  is,  however,  only  our  notion  of  the  eternity  of  the  past. 
We  turn  and  look  forward  towards  an  eternity  that  is  to  come. 
We  go  onward,  in  imagination,  until  we  arrive  at  the  period 
when  oui'  system,  having  finished  its  appointed  course,  shall  be 
dissolved.  Star  after  star,  in  the  long  lapse  of  millions  of 
ages,  goes  out  in  darkness.  The  last  light  in  the  firmament 
flickers  and  is  extinguished.  The  heavens  have  passed  away 
as  a  scroll,  and  the  material  universe  has  ceased  to  be.  Our 
power  to  measure  the  eternity  to  come  is  exhausted,  but  what 
shall  measure  the  being  of  Him  at  whose  word  it  was  created, 
and  at  whose  word  it  became  nothing  ?  When  can  underived 
existence  end  ?  We  cannot  even  conceive  of  his  liability  to 
change  or  variableness. 

4.  To  the   Deity  we   always  ascribe  infinite  and  absolute 
power.     "A  thousand  years"  (the  period  of  all  created  things) 
"  in  his  sight  are  but  as  yesterday  when  it  is  past,  and  as  a  watch 
in  the  night."     "  Of  old  hast  thou  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
earth,  and  the  heavens  are  the  works  of  thy  hands.     They 
shall  perish,  but  thou  shalt  endure ;  yea,  all  of  them  shall  wax 
old  as  doth  a  garment ;  as  a  vesture  shalt  thou  change  them, 
and  they  shall  be  changed ;  but  thou  art  the  same,  and  thy 
years  have  no  end." 

5.  To  the  Deity  we  cannot  but  ascribe  infinite  and  absolute 
power. 

Our  conceptions  of  created  power  are  by  necessity  limited. 
The  beings  with  which  we  are  conversant  are  endowed  with 
it  in  different  degrees.  We  readily  observe  the  difference 
between  feebleness  and  strength,  but  we  soon  arrive  at  a  limit 


20  PRACTICAL    ATHEISM. 

beyond  which  both  sink  to  the  level  of  equality.  The  insect 
that  floats  in  the  sunbeam,  and  "  behemoth,  chief  of  the  ways  of 
God,"  are  alike  powerless  to  heave  the  mountain  from  its  foun- 
dations, or  to  uphold  the  earth  in  its  orbit.  Created  power  is 
limited  in  kind  as  well  as  degree.  Leviathan,  "  when  he  raiseth 
himself  up,  may  cause  the  mighty  to  be  afraid  ; "  but  he  is  a 
brute,  for  God  hath  denied  to  him  understanding.  The  loftiest 
intellect  that  the  world  has  seen,  can  neither  protect  the  body 
which  it  inhabits  from  the  poisonous  miasma  of  the  marsh,  nor 
avert  the  death  which  is  instilled  into  our  veins  by  the  venom 
of  the  gliding  reptile.  But  no  such  limits  restrict  our  conceptions 
when  we  reflect  upon  the  omnipotence  of  the  Creator.  His 
power  extends  equally  throughout  infinite  space,  and  every 
where  it  is  measureless. 

Nor  does  the  power  of  the  Creator  resemble  that  of  his 
creatures  more  in  kind  than  in  degree.  Our  power  is  ever 
relative.  We  can  no  more  create  the  atom  that  floats  in  the 
sunbeam,  than  the  planet  that  moves  in  the  firmament.  The 
changes  which  we  seem  to  effect  in  the  world  around  us,  are 
nothing  but  the  exhibitions  of.  God's  wonder-working  power. 
The  husbandman  prepares  the  earth  and  scatters  abroad  the 
seed,  but  it  is  "  God  who  giveth  it  a  body  as  it  hath  pleased  him, 
and  to  every  seed  his  own  body."  But  let  man  attempt  by  his 
own  will  to  originate  a  single  change  in  the  creation,  and  he 
finds  himself  as  powerless  as  the  clods  of  the  valley.  To  the 
Creator,  on  the  contrary,  we  ascribe  absolute  and  essential 
efficiency.  By  his  simple  will  all  things  were  created.  "  God 
said,  Let  there  be  light,  and  light  was.  By  the  word  of  the  Lord 
were  the  heavens  made,  and  all  the  hosts  of  them  by  the  breath 
of  his  mouth.  For  he  spake  and  it  was,  he  commanded  and 
it  stood  fast."  And  the  God  that  in  the  beginning  created,  sus- 
tains and  governs  all ;  upholding  all-  things  by  the  word  of  his 
power,  and  doing  his  will  in  the  armies  of  heaven  and  among 
the  inhabitants  of  the  earth. 

6.  Again :  To  God  we  ascribe  omniscient  wisdom.  Traces 
of  this  attribute  are  recognized  in  man.  Having  an  end  in 


PRACTICAL    ATHEISM.  21 

view,  we  can,  with  various  degrees  of  skill,  so  adjust  our  means 
as  to  accomplish  our  purposes.  But  the  profoundest  wisdom 
of  man  reveals  nothing  so  clearly  as  its  own  inherent  feeble- 
ness. By  what  strange  infatuation  are  its  ends  selected,  and 
how  sadly  inadequate  ai'e  the  means  by  wliich  it  hopes  to 
attain  them  !  How  puerile  have  been  most  of  the  objects  of 
research  of  the  wisest  of  men !  How  small  is  the  amount  of 
truth  which  can  now  be  sifted  out  from  the  labors  of  the  human 
intellect  through  the  long  range  of  by-gone  ages  !  The  plans 
of  statesmen  and  conquerors  have  resulted  in  almost  universal 
failure.  The  military  and  administrative  talents  of  Napoleon 
were  perhaps  greater  than  those  ever  bestowed  upon  any  other 
man.  The  means  at  his  disposal  were  such  as  human  intellect 
never  before  wielded.  Yet,  before  his  death,  the  lines  which 
he  had  traced  on  the  map  of  Europe  were  already  effaced, 
and  the  political  edifice  which  he  had  erected  had  crumbled 
into  ruins.  Thus  must  it  be  always  with  a  creature  of  yester- 
day, blind  to  the  future,  and  ignorant  of  the  purposes  of  Him 
who  doeth  all  things  according  to  the  counsel  of  his  own  will. 
Infinitely  dissimilar  from  our  knowledge  is  that  possessed 
by  the  Deity.  Our  knowledge  is  limited  to  time  ;  his  pervades 
eternity.  We  know  nothing  more  than  the  relation  which 
objects  sustain  to  us;  he  knows  all  things  absolutely.  We 
know  nothing  but  the  outward  act,  the  visible  seeming;  he, 
the  motive  hidden  in  the  deepest  recesses  of  consciousness. 
We  know  not  beyond  the  present ;  to  him  the  most  distant 
future  is  open  as  the  day.  Our  plans  are  continually  thwarted 
by  the  interference  of  others;  he,  while  allowing  every  created 
moral  agent  the  unrestrained  exercise  of  his  free  will,  without 
variableness  or  the  shadow  of  a  turning,  accomplishes  those 
designs  which  were  formed  from  the  outgoings  of  Eternity. 
In  conformity  with  these  views  are  the  teachings  of  the  Scrip- 
ture on  this  subject.  "  There  is  no  darkness  nor  shadow  of 
death  .where  the  workers  of  iniquity  may  hide  themselves." 
"  Neither  is  there  any  creature  that  is  not  manifest  in  his  sight ; 
but  all  things  are  naked  and  open  to  the  eyes  of  him  with 


Mi  A  PRACTICAL    ATHEISM. 

whom  we  have  to  do."  "  He  disappointeth  the  desires  of  the 
crafty,  so  that  their  hands  cannot  perform  their  enterprise. 
He  taketh  the  wise  in  their  own  craftiness,  and  the  counsel  of 
the  froward  is  carried  headlong."  "  Surely  the  wrath  of  man 
shall  praise  thee,  and  the  remainder  of  wrath  shalt  thou 
restrain." 

7.  To  the  Deity  we  ascribe  every  moral  attribute  in  infinite 
perfection.  He  is  the  Holy  One.  By  this  we  mean  that  his 
nature  is  spotlessly  pure,  not  by  accident,  but  by  the  necessity 
of  his  being ;  not  only  that  he  never  did  wrong,  but  that  he 
could  no  more  do  wrong  than  cease  to  exist.  Nor  is  this  all. 
The  holiness  of  God  is  not  a  mere  negative  quality,  rendering 
it  impossible  for  him  to  do  wrong,  but  a  positive  attribute,  ren- 
dering it  equally  necessary  for  him  to  do  right.  And,  besides, 
with  this  perfection  we  always  associate  a  moral  affection,  a 
love  of  goodness,  and  a  hatred  to  sin,  intense  and  ever  opera- 
tive. Virtue,  throughout  his  moral  universe,  always  meets  his 
approving  smile,  while  vice  is  every  where  confronted  by  his 
withering  and  all-consuming  frown. 

The  immaculate  purity  of  the  divine  nature  is  every  where 
revealed,  as  we  reflect  upon  the  relations  which  he  sustains  to 
his  creatures.  The  existence  of  moral  agents,  endowed  with 
the  power  of  affecting  for  good  or  for  evil  the  destinies  of  each 
other,  presupposes  the  necessity  of  government.  There  must 
exist  a  Judge  of  the  earth,  who  will  control  the  injurious  and 
punish  the  wicked,  as  well  as  protect  the  innocent  and  reward 
the  righteous.  It  is  when  we  look  up  to  God  in  this  relation, 
that  we  adore  him  as  a  being  of  spotless  justice.  Never  has  an 
emotion  been  indulged,  a  word  spoken,  or  an  action  performed, 
in  the  slightest  degree  tinged  with  virtue  or  vice,  but  he  has, 
with  perfect  exactness,  estimated  its  moral  quality.  He  has 
thoroughly  known  either  the  palliations  or  aggravations  by 
which  it  was  attended.  He  has  observed  the  degree  of  light 
which  we  have  followed,  or  from  which  we  have  turned  away ; 
and  the  strength  of  the  temptation  which  we  have  successfully 
resisted,  or  by  which  we  have  been  overcome.  He  thus  is 


PRACTICAL    ATHEISM.  23 

«k 

"perfectly  acquainted,  with  the  desert  of  every  action,  and  to 
every  moral  agent  he  metes  out  the  retribution  justly  due  to 
obedience  or  transgression.  Nothing  is  too  high  to  be  reached 
by  his  award,  nothing  is  so  humble  as  to  be  neglected  in  his 
adjudication.  From  eternity  to  eternity,  among  the  numberless 
ranges  of  existence  that  people  the  universe,  this  attribute  fyas 
ever  been  exerted  without  the  variableness  or  the  shadow  of 
a  turning.  "  He  is  a  rock,  his  way  is  perfect ;  for  all  his  ways 
are  judgment ;  —  a  God  of  truth  and  without  iniquity,  just  and 
.  right  is  he."  "  The  Lord  reigneth ;  let  the  earth  rejoice ;  let  the 
multitude  of  the  isles  be  glad  thereof.  Clouds  and  darkness 
are  round  about  him,  justice  and  judgment  are  the  habitation 
of  his  throne." 

8.  But  again :  God  is  revealed  to  us  not  only  as  the  Judge, 
but  as  the  Father  of  the  creatures  whom  he  has  made.  Viewed 
in  this  relation,  we  behold  him  clothed  in  every  attribute  of 
parental  goodness,  desiring,  with  infinite  love,  the  happiness  of 
us  his  children.  Every  thing  within  us  and  around  us  bears 
witness  to  the  existence  of  this  perfection  of  the  Godhead. 
Our  senses  and  the  objects  which  quicken  them  into  enjoy- 
ment, the  laws  which  govern  the  universe  around  us,  the  won- 
derful fabric  of  the  intellect  within  us,  our  moral  nature,  its 
capacity  for  endless  happiness,  and  its  near  relation  to  him 
whose  image  it  bears,  the  provision  which  has  been  made  for 
its  ceaseless  progress  in  virtue  as  it  is  changed  from  glory  to 
glory,  all  teach  us  that  God  is  love.  But  this  is  only  a  distant 
view  of  his  beneficence.  A  more  affecting  conception  of  this 
attribute  is  derived  from  considering  the  relation  which  our 
Father  who  is  in  heaven  sustains  to  every  one  of  his  individual 
children.  By  him  the  very  hairs  of  our  head  are  all  num- 
bered. He  hears  the  cry  of  the  raven,  and  scatters  crumbs  in 
the  pathway  of  the  sparrow.  He  invites  you,  and  me.  and 
every  creature  capable  of  knowing  him,  to  approach  him  in 
all  the  confidence  of  filial  affection,  to  unbosom  to  him  all  our 
sorrows,  to  spread  before  him  all  our  wants,  and,  by  intimate 
communion  with  him,  to  be  transformed  more  and  more  into 


24  PRACTICAL,    ATHEISM. 

his  moral  likeness.  He  is  the  Father  of  the  fatherless,  the 
Judge  of  the  widow,  the  Helper  of  the  helpless,  and  the  Com- 
forter of  those  that  be  cast  down.  "  How  excellent  is  thy  lov- 
ing kindness,  O  God !  Therefore  the  children  of  men  put  their 
trust  in  the  shadow  of  thy  wings." 

The  most  astonishing  manifestation  of  the  goodness  of  God 
is,  however,  made  to  us  in  the  remedial  dispensation.  We  are 
taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  that  our  whole  race  is  in  rebellion 
against  this  holy  and  most  merciful  God,  and  that,  had  justice 
awarded  to  us  the  demerit  of  our  sins,  we  must  have  been 
consigned  to  eternal  banishment  from  his  presence.  The 
thoughts  of  our  hearts  were  evil  continually.  We  did  not  like 
to  retain  God  in  our  knowledge,  but  said  unto  him,  Depart  from 
us,  for  we  desire  not  a  knowledge  of  thy  ways.  He  had  but 
to  leave  us  to  our  own  choices,  and  our  everlasting  dwelling 
must  have  been  with  the  angels  that  kept  not  their  first  estate, 
to  whom  is  reserved  the  blackness  of  darkness  forever.  But 
even  here  the  tender  mercy  of  our  Father  did  not  abandon  us. 
When  all  the  conditions  of  our  first  probation  had  been  vio- 
lated, he  provided  for  us  a  second  probation,  established  upon 
better  promises.  He  accepted  a  propitiation  for  our  offences, 
and  offered  again  to  receive  us  to  his  favor.  "  God  so  loved  the 
world,  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  on  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 
Jesus  Christ,  having  obtained  eternal  redemption  for  us,  is  now 
exalted  a  Prince  and  a  Savior  to  grant  repentance  unto  Israel 
and  remission  of  sins.  And  now  the  God  and  Father  of  all  is 
beseeching  us,  by  every  sentiment  of  duty  and  gratitude,  to  be 
reconciled  to  him.  In  every  form  of  language,  and  by  every 
affecting  similitude,  he  assures  us  that  he  is  not  willing  that  any 
should  perish,  but  that  all  should  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth.  Though  we  have  wandered  far  off  into  a  strange  land, 
the  eye  of  our  Father  in  heaven  is  still  bent  upon  us  in  com- 
passion. From  time  to  time,  his  invitations  to  return  fall  upon 
our  ear  through  the  ministrations  of  his  Spirit ;  and  if  he  dis- 
cover within  us  the  feeblest  emotion  of  penitence,  he  cultivates 


PRACTICAL    ATHEISM.  25 

and  strengthens  it ;  and,  as  soon  as  we  form  the  resolution,  I 
will  arise  and  go  to  my  Father,  —  while  we  are  yet  a  great  way 
off,  he  hastens  to  receive  us  with  the  joyful  welcome  —  "  This  my 
son  was  dead,  and  is  alive  again  ;  he  was  lost,  and  is  found." 

Such  are  some  of  the  conceptions  which  right  reason,  as 
well  as  revealed  religion,  present  to  us  of  the  character  of 
God.  Every  man  must,  I  think,  at  once  perceive  that  his 
moral  nature  could  worship  no  other  being  without  doing 
violence  to  itself.  And  yet  more  :  as  soon  as  we  become 
acquainted  with  the  existence  and  attributes  of  such  a  God,  we 
become  immediately  conscious  that  it  is  our  highest  duty  to 
love,  to  obey,  and  adore  him.  The  capacity  for  such  com- 
munion with  God  allies  us  to  his  moral  nature.  Destitute  of  it, 
we  should  be  but  in  a  small  degree  distinguished  from  the 
brutes. 

But,  if  such  be  the  character  of  God,  and  if  we  be  his 
accountable  creatures,  that  he  exists  must  be  infinitely  the 
most  important  fact  that  can  come  within  the  range  of  our 
knowledge.  If  he  is  the  universal,  all-sufficient,  and  inde- 
pendent cause,  upon  him  by  necessity  depend  all  that  we  now 
enjoy,  and  all  that  in  the  future  we  can  hope  for.  If  he  is 
every  where  present,  beholding  the  evil  and  the  good,  and  has 
known  our  thought  afar  off,  our  whole  history,  as  it  essentially 
is,  is  perfectly  spread  out  before  his  omniscient  eye.  If  he  be 
not  only  the  omniscient  but  the  impartial  Judge,  in  whose  sight 
the  wicked  cannot  stand,  we  must  at  his  hand  receive  the  due 
reward  of  all  our  deeds,  meted  out  by  unspotted  holiness.  If 
he  is  all  goodness,  we  are  bound  to  render  to  him  a  tribute  of 
gratitude  as  ceaseless  as  the  stream  of  his  beneficence ;  and 
the  failure  to  do  this  is  sin.  If  we  must  soon  come  into  the 
unveiled  presence  of  the  Lord  God  Almighty,  we  can  never 
behold  him  in  peace  unless  our  moral  natures  are  in  harmony 
with  his.  If  he  have  so  loved  us  as  to  give  his  well-beloved 
Son  for  our  offences,  and  we  have  refused  his  offer  of  eternal 
life,  there  remaineth  no  other  sacrifice  for  sin,  and  we  must 
meet  our  Father  in  heaven  guilty  of  having  treated  with  con- 
tempt the  message  of  redeeming  love. 


»b  PRACTICAL    ATHEISM. 

From  these  considerations  it  is,  I  think,  evident  that  the 
'  existence  of  God,  and  specially  of  such  a  God  as  the  Scrip- 
tures reveal,  is  by  far  the  most  practical  truth  of  which  we 
can  possibly  conceive.  It  is  most  intimately  related  to  every 
action  which  we  perform,  every  emotion  in  which  we  indulge, 
and  every  motive  by  which  we  are  governed  throughout  our 
whole  existence.  We  cannot  conceive  of  a  situation  in  which 
it  is  possible  for  us  to  exist  where  this  truth  ought  not  to  exert 
an  unlimited  control  over  our  conduct.  It  is  the  foundation  of 
all  that  we  hope  for  and  of  all  that  we  dread.  Were  all  other 
truth  abolished,  let  this  only  remain,  and  the  foundations'  of  the 
moral  universe  would  continue  unmoved.  Were  every  other 
being  annihilated,  let  God  and  our  individual  selves  only 
exist,  and  no  essential  source  of  our  happiness  would  be  dried 
up.  Were  the  existence  of  God  to  cease,  all  other  things, 
were  it  possible,  remaining,  this  universe  would  become  a  hell. 
Hence  you  see  that  religion  is  not  only  a  reasonable,  but  that 
it  is  infinitely  the  most  reasonable,  exercise  of  the  powers  of 
an  immortal  soul.  All  other  obligations  are  finite  ;  they  bind 
us  to  duties  of  time,  and  place,  and  circumstances  ;  this  duty 
binds  us  always  and  every  where,  and  the  results  that  issue 
from  it  transcend  all  finite  conception. 

What,  then,  must  be  the  condition  of  the  man  who  believes 
in  the  existence  of  such  a  God,  and  yet  suffers  not  this  belief 
to  exert  any  practical  influence  upon  his  conduct  ?  He  believes 
that  he  is  dependent,  and  God  all-powerful,  and  he  acts  as 
though  God  were  powerless,  and  himself  omnipotent.  He 
believes  himself  to  be  ignorant,  and  God  omniscient ;  he  acts 
as  though  he  were  all-wise,  and  God  incapable  of  knowledge. 
He  believes  that  God  beholds  the  inmost  recesses  of  e very- 
spirit  ;  and  yet  he  acts  as  though  he  could  conceal  even  the 
deeds  of  noonday  from  his  all-seeing  observation.  He  Re- 
lieves that  God  is  a  being  of  all-consuming  holiness  ;  and  he 
acts  as  though  th»  Eternal  might  be  made  his  coadjutor  in 
wickedness.  He  believes  that  every  secret  thing  will  be 
brought  into  judgment,  and  that  the  consequences  of  every  sin 
are  solemn  beyond  the  reach  of  finite  conception ;  and  yet  he 


PRACTICAL    ATHEISM.  27 

labors  assiduously  to  treasure  up  wrath  against  the  day  of 
wrath  and  revelation  of  the  righteous  judgment  of  God.  He 
believes  himself  under  infinite  obligations  to  reverence  and 
love  his  Father  who  is  in  heaven  ;  and  yet  he  says  to  the  Most 
High,  Depart  from  me  ;  I  desire  not  a  knowledge  of  thy  ways. 
He  knows  that  the  pleasures  of  sin  are  unsatisfactory  and 
degrading,  polluted  and  polluting;  and  yet,  for  the  most 
insignificant  of  them  all,  he  barters  away  the  precious  hope 
of  glory,  honor,  and  immortality.  I  ask,  then,  What  folly  can 
be  compared  with  the  folly  of  him  who  believes  that  all  this  is 
true,  and  then  acts  as  though  all  of  it  were  false  ?  Language 
has  no  epithet  which  can  adequately  designate  the  madness  of 
him  who  affirms  the  existence  of  the  Deity,  and  yet  lives 
without  God  in  the  world. 

But  now,  turning  from  this  general  view  of  the  subject, 
allow  me  to  bring  it  at  once  to  a  personal  application.  Are 
there  not  among  us  this  afternoon  many  young  men  whose 
lives  have  presented  a  practical  illustration  of  this  very  folly  ? 
You  all  believe  in  the  existence  of  God  precisely  as  I  have 
endeavored  to  set  it  before  you.  It  is  a  belief  from  which  you 
cannot  escape,  for  it  is  interwoven  with  your  intellectual  and 
moral  nature.  In  the  moment  of  sinful  excitement,  tormented 
by  the  struggle  between  your  passions  and  your  conscience, 
you  may  wish  there  were  no  God ;  but  it  is  not  in  your  power 
to  believe  it.  You  know  that,  if  God  exists,  his  attributes  are 
such  as  I  have  attempted  to  indicate  ;  and  yet  I  fear  that  many 
of  you  are  living  the  life  of  the  practical  atheist. 

While,  however,  I  say  this,  I  do  not  think  harshly  of  you. 
Far  be  it  from  me  to  accuse  you  either  wrongfully  or  unkindly. 
That  we  may  bring  this  subject  to  a  definite  issue,  let  me 
suggest  a  few  inquiries  which  every  one  may  answer  for 
himself  in  the  solitude  of  his  own  bosom.  Every  one  may 
thus  decide  the  question  whether  the  sin  of  practical  atheism 
does  not  lie  upon  his  conscience. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  I  address  you  as  believers  in  the 
existence  and  attributes  of  God,  and  the  solemn  consequences 


28  PRACTICAL    ATHEISM. 

which  result  from  this  infinitely  important  truth.  I  would  then 
inquire,  Is  there  not  in  thjs  assembly  one,  at  least,  who  fre- 
quently passes  days,  and  weeks,  and  months,  without  ever 
devoutly  thinking  of  his  God  and  his  Redeemer ;  nay,  by 
whose  lips  the  name  of  God  is  never  pronounced,  unless  it  be 
to  point  a  jest  or  give  emphasis  to  an  assertion  ?  This  young 
man  surely  is  a  practical  atheist.  Is  there  not  another,  who,  at 
the  transient  solicitation  of  passion,  or  even  from  the  dread  of 
being  considered  precise,  will  do,  and  who  is  forming  the  habit  of 
doing,  that  which  he  knows  the  eternal  God  to  have  forbidden  ? 
This  young  man  is  a  practical  atheist.  Is  there  not  one  who  left 
the  home  of  his  parents  rich  in  all  the  instructions  which  piety 
could  impart,  and  resolved  that,  in  the  new  circumstances  in 
which  he  was  to  be  placed,  he  would  seek  first  of  all  the  favor 
of  God,  who  is  already  living  in  the  daily  neglect  of  his  soul's 
salvation,  and  on  whom  every  religious  truth  is  rapidly  losing 
its  wonted  effect  ?  This  young  man  is  a  practical  atheist.  Is 
there  not  another,  who  professes  himself  a  disciple  of  Christ, 
who  has  felt  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come,  and  been,  as  he 
supposed,  a  partaker  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  has  long  since 
forgotten  to  bow  the  knee  in  prayer,  who  seeks  neither  the 
blessing  of  God  upon  his  labors  nor  the  pardon  of  God  for  his 
transgressions,  who  is  fast  forgetting  his  religious  impressions 
and  becoming  recreant  to  his  most  solemn  vows  ?  This  young 
man  is  a  practical  atheist.  In  a  word,  whoever  there  may  be 
among  us,  who  is  living  without  respect  to  his  obligations  to  his 
Creator  and  Redeemer,  who  is  not,  by  patient  continuance  in 
well-doing,  seeking  for  glory,  honor,  and  immortality,  what- 
ever be  his  profession,  he  is  a  practical  atheist. 

Whence  has  arisen  this  atheism  in  the  intelligent,  responsi- 
ble, and  highly-favored  creatures  of  God  ?  How  is  it  that 
thinking  beings  should  deny  the  existence  of  their  Maker,  and 
that  immortal  and  accountable  spirits,  convinced  of  the  reality 
of  his  existence  and  attributes,  should  act  as  though  these 
truths  were  a  fiction  of  the  imagination  ?  To  this  question  I 
think  but  one  answer  can  be  given,  and  it  is  found  in  the 


PRACTICAL    ATHEISM.  29 

words  of  the  apostle  Paul  —  Because  they  did  not  like  to 
retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  God  gave  them  over.  It  is 
because  we  do  not  love  the  moral  attributes  of  God  that  we 
first  refuse  submission  to  his  authority,  and  then  either  deny 
his  existence  or  say  unto  him,  Depart  from  us,  for  we  desire 
not  a  knowledge  of  thy  ways.  Thus,  as  in  other  cases,  we 
yield  obedience  to  our  passions  rather  than  to  our  reason  and 
our  conscience,  and  testify  to  the  truth  of  the  assertion  of  holy 
writ  —  The  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God.  Is  not  this  true 
of  every  one  of  us  who  is  living  without  God  in  the  world  ? 
Would  you  not  think  of  God  if  you  loved  him  ?  Would  you 
not  obey  him  if  you  loved  him  ?  Retire  within  your  own 
bosoms,  and  let  each  one  decide  for  himself  whether  these 
things  be  so. 

And,  if  this  be  so,  whither,  I  pray  you,  doth  it  tend,  and 
what  must  be  the  end  thereof?  When  you  put  aside  this 
tabernacle  of  flesh,  how  will  you  stand  before  God,  with  the 
temper  of  fixed  enmity  to  his  character  unchangeably  inter- 
woven with  your  spiritual  nature  ?  What  means  do  you  pos- 
sess for  carrying  on  this  warfare  ?  Can  you  contend  with 
omnipotence  ?  Can  you  deceive  omniscience  ?  Can  you  sus- 
tain yourself  under  the  frown  of  all-consuming  holiness  ?  Do 
you  not  perceive  that  enmity  with  God  involves  within  itself 
the  essential  elements  of  unutterable  woe  ? 

What,  then,  remains  for  us  but  eternal  death,  unless  our 
spiritual  nature  be  transformed  from  enmity  to  love  ?  Ye  must 
be  born  again,  is  the  dictate  of  reason  as  well  as  revelation. 
We  are  thus  shut  up  unto  the  faith.  We  are,  however,  still  in 
a  state  of  probation.  God,  in  the  gospel  of  his  Son,  is  offer- 
ing to  us  reconciliation.  I  will,  saith  he,  take  from  you  the 
heart  of  stone,  and  give  you  a  heart  of  flesh.  To  him,  then, 
let  us  all  approach  in  the  temper  of  humble  penitence  and 
filial  affection.  Great  as  are  our  offences,  our  Father  who  is 
in  heaven  does  not  desire  our  destruction.  He  is  not  willing 
that  one  of  us  should  perish.  He  has  exalted  his  well-beloved 
Son  as  a  Prince  and  a  Savior  to  grant  to  every  one  of  us 
3* 


30  PRACTICAL    ATHEISM. 

repentance  and  remission  of  sins.  Pardon  and  eternal  life  are 
freely  offered  to  us  in  the  gospel.  Look  unto  me,  saith  the 
Lord,  and  be  ye  saved,  all  ye  ends  of  the  earth,  for  I  am  God, 
and  there  is  none  else.  Let  us,  then,  hearken  to  his  merciful 
invitation,  and  let  us  do  it  now.  Why  should  we  continue  to 
grieve  him  by  our  rebellion?  Why  should  we  harden  our 
hearts  against  all  the  entreaties  of  redeeming  love  ?  Let  us, 
then,  now  give  to  him  our  hearts,  for  now  is  the  accepted 
time,  now  is  the  day  of  salvation. 


THE  MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN. 
LOVE  TO  GOD. 


"  FOE  ALL  HAVE  SINNED,  AND  COME  SHOKT  OP  THE  GLORY  OP  GOD  " 

Romans  ill.  23. 

"  I  KNOW  YOU,   THAT  YE  HATE  NOT  THE  LOVE  OF  GOD  IN  YOU." 

John  v.  42. 

IN  a  preceding  discourse,  I  had  occasion  to  allude  to  the 
moral  attributes  of  God.  I  then  stated  that  reason  and  revela- 
tion unite  in  ascribing  to  the  Deity  almighty  power,  omniscient 
wisdom,  spotless  holiness,  and  infinite  love.  We  cannot  escape 
from  the  conviction  that  such  a  Being  presides  over  the  des- 
tinies of  the  universe,  and  that  he  is  and  ever  must  be  inti- 
mately present  to  every  one  of  us. 

When  we  speak  of  the  attributes  of  God,  we  always  conceive 
of  them  as  ever-acting  energies,  as  the  principles  by  which  all 
his  acts  are,  from  necessity,  governed.  When  we  speak  of  his 
almighty  power,  we  mean  that  he  is  ever  acting,  and  when  we 
speak  of  his  omniscient  wisdom,  we  mean  that  he  is  always 
directing.  And,  more  than  this,  when  we  conceive  of  his 
moral  perfections,  we  always  suppose  that  his  power  and  wis- 
dom are  governed  by  justice,  and  holiness,  and  love ;  that  he 
is  every  where  throughout  the  universe,  rewarding  virtue  and 
punishing  vice,  and  that  he  must,  from  the  necessity  of  his 
nature,  continue  to  do  so  forever.  Thus  the  very  concep- 
tion of  the  character  of  the  Deity  involves  the  conception  of 
an  all- wise,  all-powerful,  and  all-holy  government,  to  which 


32    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD. 

every  moral  creature  is,  from  the  conditions  of  his  being, 
responsible. 

If  we  be  the  moral  creatures  of  God,  it  is  then  a  matter  of 
great  consequence  to  us  to  ascertain  the  relation  in  which  we 
stand  to  such  a  government.  Are  our  desires  in  harmony  with 
the  laws  by  which  we  are  encompassed  ?  Is  our  character 
such,  that,  in  conformity  with  the  essential  elements  of  his 
nature,  God  can  make  us  happy  ?  We  are  moral,  voluntary 
agents ;  we  can  never  take  pleasure  in  any  obedience,  unless 
we  obey  from  love.  Do  we  then  love  the  objects  which  God 
loves  ?  do  we  hate  the  things  that  he  hates  ?  and,  above  all, 
do  we  love  our  Father  in  heaven,  from  whom  comes  to  us 
every  good  and  perfect  gift  ?  In  a  word,  it  is  most  reasonable 
to  inquire  whether  or  not  our  moral  nature  is  in  harmony  with 
that  of  the  Deity,  for,  if  it  be  not,  we  must  at  last  be  miserable. 

And  these  questions  derive  additional  interest  from  the  fact, 
that  the  present  is  with  us  a  state  of  probation,  and  that  it  is 
the  only  probation  which  will  ever  be  allotted  to  us.  Every 
action  is  connected  with  consequences  which  attach  to  us  for- 
ever. Every  action  is  forming  in  us  the  habit  of  love  or  of 
enmity  to  our  Creator.  And  besides,  this  being  a  state  of  pro- 
bation, it  is  also  a  state  of  change.  We  may  here  prepare 
ourselves  for  either  happiness  or  misery,  by  the  formation  of  a 
moral  character,  and  we  may  here  reform  our  character,  if  we 
find  that  by  any  means  whatever  it  has  lapsed  into  sin.  From 
all  these  considerations,  it  will,  I  think,  be  manifest,  that  the 
question,  What  is  the  moral  character  of  the  human  race  ?  is 
one  of  the  greatest  practical  importance.  Each  one  of  us  is  an 
individual  of  that  race,  and  is  distinctly  marked  with  the  essen- 
tial moral  lineaments  by  which  it  is  distinguished.  Let  us, 
then,  candidly,  and  yet  solemnly,  inquire,  what  is  the  truth  on 
this  subject. 

In  considering  the  moral  character  of  man,  it  is  important  to 
remark,  in  the  first  place,  that  there  are  two  classes  of  beings 
to  whom  we  stand  in  moral  relations.  These  are  our  fellow- 
men  and  our  Creator.  It  cannot  for  a  moment  be  doubted 


MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD.    33 

that,  in  respect  to  both  of  these,  we  are  under  obligations  to 
some  courses  of  conduct  in  preference  to  others.  Every  one 
knows  the  difference  between  justice  and  injustice,  truth  and 
falsehood,  gratitude  and  ingratitude  in  our  dealings  with  our  fel- 
low-men ;  and  that  we  are  morally  obliged  to  cherish  the  one  class 
of  affections  and  to  eradicate  the  other.  It  is  yet  more  evident 
that  we  must  be  under  obligations  greater  than  we  can  con- 
ceive, to  exercise  suitable  affections  towards  our  Father  in 
heaven.  If  this  be  so,  it  will  follow  by  necessity,  that  our  moral 
character  is  to  be  determined  by  the  manner  in  which  these 
obligations  are  fulfilled.  He  who  fulfils  them  is  deserving  of 
praise.  He  who  fails  to  fulfil  them  is  deserving  of  blame : 
how  much  more,  he  who  cherishes  moral  dispositions  to  which 
they  are  directly  opposed  ! 

In  order,  then,  to  ascertain  the  moral  character  of  man,  it  is 
essential  to  ascertain  what  are  the  moral  dispoeitions  which  arc 
required  of  him  by  his  Creator.  This  is  readily  learned  from 
the  volume  of  inspiration.  The  moral  law,  under  which  we  ars 
created,  is  expressed  hi  these  words:  Thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself. 
To  this  rule,  as  soon  as  it  is  conceived,  our  conscience  responds. 
Our  whole  moral  nature  bears  testimony  to  its  rectitude.  No 
one  can  either  pretend  that  it  is  unjust,  or  offer  any  other  as  a 
substitute  for  it,  without  involving  himself  in  absurdity.  This 
rule,  then,  being  once  admitted,  we  are  provided  with  a  criterion 
by  which  the  moral  character  of  man  may  be  estimated.  If  it 
be  found  that  men  do  love  God  with  all  their  hearts,  and  their 
neighbor  as  themselves,  then  is  their  moral  character  perfect, 
and  they  may  justly  claim  the  reward  of  innocence.  If,  on  the 
contrary,  it  be  found  that  these  affections  are  either  imperfect 
or  absolutely  wanting,  then  must  we  abandon  all  pretensions 
to  innocence,  and  we  are  exposed  to  the  desert  of  wrong-doing. 

It  would  be  easy,  in  examining  this  subject,  to  spread  before 
you  the  opinions  of  men,  in  all  ages,  who  have  reflected  upon 
the  moral  character  of  our  race.  I  might  multiply  quotations 
without  number,  from  poets,  satirists,  and  philosophers,  to 


34    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD. 

whose  decisions,  in  all  that  concerns  human  nature,  we  are 
accustomed  to  yield  the  profoundest  deference.  These  all 
unite  in  affirming  that  man  is,  in  a  great  degree,  ignorant  of 
his  duty,  both  to  God  and  man ;.  and  that,  when  his  duty  is 
perceived,  he  is  by  no  means  inclined  to  perform  it.  I  might 
also  refer  to  the  universal  consciousness  of  guilt  which  pervades 
our  race,  and  its  natural  consequence,  the  dread  of  futurity, 
and  the  fear  of  retribution,  as  evidences  that  our  own  con- 
sciences testify  to  the  fact  of  our  guiltiness.  I  might  review 
the  history  of  our  race  from  the  beginning,  and  point  you  to 
the  instances  of  cruelty,  oppression,  treachery,  and  impiety, 
with  which  every  page  is  filled,  as  illustrations  of  the  moral 
bias  of  our  nature.  I  might  examine  the  systems  of  law  which 
have  been  enacted  in  all  nations,  and  of  which  the  sole  object 
is  to  defend  the  weak  against  the  unhallowed  aggressions  of 
the  mighty.  But  all  these  must  be  passed  by  for  the  present. 
They  may  seem  too  general  and  indefinite  for  the  purposes  of 
conviction,  and  moreover  they  all  fail  to  teach  us  the  origin 
from  which  all  these  evils  emanate.  Let  us,  then,  turn  from 
these  human  authorities,  and  inquire  for  the  teachings  of  the 
Scriptures  upon  this  subject.  If  God  himself  has  revealed  to 
us  the  moral  character  of  man,  we  have  the  means  of  arriving 
at  the  truth  with  absolute  certainty. 

In  appealing  to  the  Scriptures  in  order  to  ascertain  the  moral 
character  of  man,  you  will,  I  trust,  believe  me,  when  I  say,  that 
I  have  no  desire  to  teach  you  the  doctrine  of  any  particular 
sect.  We  desire  to  teach  not  what  the  sects  have  inculcated, 
but  what  the  Bible  reveals.  Nor  shall  I  attempt  to  illustrate  or 
confirm  the  views  of  any  class  of  theologians ;  this  they  are 
abundantly  able  to  do  for  themselves.  The  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  are  our  ultimate  and  only  authority  in 
all  questions  touching  our  moral  relations  to  God.  If  we  can 
ascertain  what  they  teach  us,  we  shall  arrive  at  pure  truth.  If 
we  present  to  you  the  dogmas  of  men,  we  shall  at  best  set 
before  you  the  truth,  commingled  with  the  results  of  human 
infirmity  and  error. 


MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.    LOVE  TO  GOD.    35 

Nor  have  I  the  least  design  to  defend  the  terms  used  by 
many  writers  on  this  subject.  We  desire  to  deal  not  with 
names,  but  with  things  ;  not  with  words,  but  with  matters  of 
fact.  It  has,  sometimes,  for  instance,  been  the  custom  to 
designate  the  moral  corruption  of  man  by  the  term  "  total 
depravity."  Definitions,  I  know,  may  be  given  of  this  phrase 
which  would  render  it  not  inconsistent  with  what  I  suppose  to 
be  the  revealed  truth ;  still  I  think  that  this  truth  might  be 
expressed  by  more  fitly  chosen  words.  When  we  modify  an 
adjective  by  the  epithet  "  total,"  we  mean,  I  think,  to  declare 
that  the  quality  pervades  the  subject  without  admixture  or  alle- 
viation. That  thing  is  not  totally  black  which  presents  any  inter- 
mingling of  colors.  If  depraved  mean  sinful,  totally  depraved 
would  seem  to  mean  sinful  in  such  a  sense  as  to  exclude  the 
existence  of  virtue.  Now,  I  do  not  perceive  that  such  a 
character  is  ascribed  to  man  in  the  Scriptures.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  this  expression  indicates  that  though  there  may  be 
virtue  in  human  action  irrespective  of  divine  grace,  yet  that  in 
no  case  it  fulfils  the  conditions  of  the  laws  of  God,  this  may 
be  true,  but  the  truth  might,  as  I  think,  be  expressed  by  more 
appropriate  terms. 

Ruined  and  helpless  as  the  moral  condition  of  man  is  repre- 
sented to  be  in  the  Scriptures,  they  do  not  assert  that  there  is 
hi  his  nature  none  of  the  elements  of  goodness.  So  far  as 
we  can  discover,  they  nowhere  assert  that  filial  or  parental 
affection,  patriotism,  generosity,  or  benevolence,  are  either 
vicious,  or  to  be  classed  with  the  instinctive  and  therefore 
morally  neutral  impulses  of  brutes.  The  principles  of  ethics 
would  teach  us  that  such  a  view  was  erroneous.  The  inten- 
tional fulfilment  of  a  moral  obligation  must,  as  it  seems  to  me, 
be  virtuous.  It  may  not  be  as  virtuous  as  it  ought  to  be.  It 
may  be  wanting  in  some  of  the  elements  necessary  to  a  per- 
fect moral  action,  and,  therefore,  it  may  come  short  of  the 
praise  of  God.  So  far,  however,  as  it  is  the  intentional 
fulfilment  of  a  moral  obligation,  it  is  virtuous,  and  I  think  that  all 
men  correctly  honor  it  as  such.  There  are  surely  gradations 


36    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.    LOVE  TO  GOD. 

in  moral  character  irrespective  of  the  transforming  influences 
of  the  grace  of  God.  When  the  young  ruler  came  to  inquire 
of  Christ,  there  was  much  that  was  wanting  to  render  him 
acceptable  to  God  ;  yet  the  Savior  looked  upon  him  and  loved 
him.  Our  Lord  clearly  beheld  in  him  a  character  very  differ- 
ent from  that  of  the  scribes  arid  Pharisees  who  surrounded 
him. 

Let  us,  then,  while  we  attempt  to  examine  this  subject, 
endeavor  to  cast  aside  our  prejudices,  and  inquire  for  the  sim- 
ple truth.  Let  us, deal  with  facts,  instead  of  words.  On  the 
one  hand,  let  not  our  natural  indisposition  to  find  ourselves  in 
the  wrong  render  us  blind  to  our  real  condition ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  let  not  our  adherence  to  preconceived  opinions 
lead  us  to  deny  what  is  obvious  to  our  own  observation.  It 
becomes  us  to  allow  to  human  nature  all  that  it  can  reasonably 
claim,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  state  the  facts  concerning  it 
precisely  as  they  exist.  No  benefit  can  ever  arise  from  ad- 
herence to  error,  under  what  guise  soever  it  may  be  concealed. 

1  have  already  remarked  that  the  standard  by  which  the 
moral  character  of  man  is  to  be  judged  is  the  law,  Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself.  He  who  obeys  this  rule  is  innocent ;  his  moral  char- 
acter is  perfect ;  he  will  receive  praise  from  God.  He  who 
fails  to  obey  it  is  imperfect,  sinful,  and  is  shut  out  from  all 
claim  to  justification  on  the  ground  of  the  law.  We  shall 
proceed,  on  this  occasion,  to  examine  the  declarations  of  revela- 
tion respecting  the  character  of  man,  in  view  of  the  first  part  of 
the  precept,  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart. 

From  the  multitude  of  passages  that  might  be  offered  to 
illustrate  this  subject,  I  have  chosen  the  two  which  form  the 
text  of  this  discourse,  as  among  the  most  definite  and  explicit. 
The  apostle  declares  that  all  men,  the  whole  human  race, 
have  sinned  ;  and,  if  we  examine  the  context,  we  shall  see 
that  he  means  also  to  affirm  they  are  sinners.  He  adds,  as  a 
consequence  of  this,  they  have  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God. 
"  Glory,"  in  this  place,  means  "  praise,"  the  praise  of  well- 


MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.    LOVE  TO  GOD.    37 

doing.  "  To  come  short  of"  is  to  fail  of  obtaining.  The 
text,  then,  asserts  that  all  men,  by  sinning,  have  failed  to  ob- 
tain the  divine  favor.  The  truth  therefore,  revealed,  is  this :  God 
has  given  us  a  perfect  rule  of  conduct ;  we  have  not  obeyed 
it,  and  hence  we  have  lost  all  claim  to  his  approbation.  That 
this  is  his  meaning  is  evident  from  the  conclusion  which  he 
draws  from  these  premises ;  "  therefore,  by  the  deeds  of  the 
law  can  no  flesh  be  justified." 

The  words  of  our  Savior  also  affirm  distinctly  what  is  our 
moral  character  in  respect  to  our  obligations  to  God.  "  I  know 
you,"  said  he,  "  that  ye  have  not  the  love  of  God  in  you."  That 
this  assertion  was  not  intended  to  refer  exclusively  to  his  imme- 
diate hearers,  but  that  it  was  universally  true,  is  evident  from  his 
declaration  on  another  occasion.  "  This  is  the  condemnation," 
said  he,  "  that  light  is  come  into  the  world,  and  men  loved  dark" 
ness  rather  than  light,  because  their  deeds  are  evil." 

In  attempting  to  illustrate  this  doctrine,  I  remark,  first,  that 
the  Scriptures  always  proceed  upon  the  admission  that  the 
great  moral  relation  of  man  —  that  which  involves  and  infinitely 
transcends  every  other  —  is  his  relation  to  his  Creator.  In  com- 
parison with  this,  every  other  dwindles  into  insignificance.  A 11 
others,  in  comparison  with  it,  are  as  finite  to  infinite,  as  time  to 
eternity.  The  love  of  God  throughout  the  moral  universe  is 
the  alpha  and  omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end,  of  all  essen- 
tial and  permanent  goodness.  The  presence  or  the  absence 
of  this  attribute  constitutes  the  difference  in  this  world  between 
the  saint  and  the  sinner,  and  in  the  unseen  world  that  between 
an  angel  and  a  demon.  All  other  relations  change,  and  the 
obligations  and  duties  thence  arising  change  with  them  ;  this 
relation  alone  is  changeless  and  immutable  as  the  throne  of  the 
eternal.  God  cannot  be  otherwise  than  he  is,  and  hence  the 
duty  to  love  him  supremely  must  be  unalterable.  From  this 
affection  all  essential  goodness,  throughout  the  universe,  ema- 
nates, and  by  this  alone  is  it  sustained  and  invigorated.  This 
alone  would  create  universal  love ;  withdraw  it,  and  every 
passion  would  tend  to  universal  hatred.  Without  it,  the 
4 


38    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.    LOVE  TO  GOD. 

creature  is  fallen,  shut  out  from  the  companionship  of  the  holy, 
delivered  over  to  the  blindness  of  his  own  ignorance  and  the 
turbulence  of  his  unrestrained  desires.  Like  the  principle  of 
gravitation  in  the  material  world,  while  it  exists  in  its  native 
energy,  the  mightiest  planet  in  its  remotest  orbit  performs  with 
unerring  rectitude  its  appointed  revolution,  whilst  the  veriest 
mote  that  floats  in  the  sunbeam  finds  unbidden  its  appropriate 
place.  Abolish  it,  and  suns,  and  stars,  and  planets,  would  rush 
in  wild  confusion  through  the  abyss;  and  though  here  and 
there  a  crystal  or  a  gem  might  for  a  while  retain  its  fair  pro- 
portions, yet  all  things  would  be  rapidly  crumbling  into  void 
and  formless  chaos. 

Now,  the  Bible  charges  it  upon  man,  with  the  most  emphatic 
precision,  that  of  this  element  —  the  supreme  love  to  God  —  he  is 
utterly  and  entirely  destitute.  The  messages  of  the  prophets 
to  the  Jews  repeated  in  every  form  this  appalling  announce- 
ment. "  They  say  unto  God,"  saith  Job,  "  Depart  from  us,  for 
we  desire  not  the  knowledge  of  thy  ways."  "  A  son  honoreth  his 
father,  and  a  servant  his  master ;  if,  then,  I  be  a  father,  where 
is  my  honor  ?  and  if  I  be  a  master,  where  is  my  fear  ?  saith  the 
Lord  of  hosts."  Lest,  however,  it  should  be  said  that  these 
expressions  are  the  figurative  language  of  poetry,  our  Lord,  in 
the  words  of  the  text,  in  terms  that  cannot  be  misunderstood, 
declares,  with  an  emphasis  that  cannot  be  mistaken,  "  I  know 
you,  that  ye  have  not  the  love  of  God  in  you." 

Here,  however,  a  distinction  may  be  taken.  It  is  not  charged 
upon  man,  that  he  may  not  love  his  own  conceptions  of  the 
Deity.  It  is  not  said  that  a  Greek  or  Roman  might  not  have 
loved  the  fabulous  creations  of  his  own  mythology,  if  their 
attributes  were  in  harmony  with  the  tendencies  of  his  own 
corrupted  nature.  The  text  simply  affirms  of  both  Jew  and 
Gentile,  that  they  had  no  love  for  the  holy  God  whom  the 
Messiah  came  more  perfectly  to  reveal.  Nor  would  the 
Scriptures  deny  that  we,  at  the  present  day,  might  love  the 
natural  attributes  of  the  true  God.  We  may  admire  a  poetical 
conception  of  the  Creator,  as  the  Author  of  all  that  is  sublime 


MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD.    39 

and  beautiful,  the  God  of  sunshine  and  of  storms,  of  spring- 
time and  of  autumn,  "  who  bringcth  forth  Mazzaroth  in  his  sea- 
sons, and  guideth  Arcturus  and  his  sons,"  while  we  have  no  one 
proper  affection  towards  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Our  Lord  addresses  us  not  as  tasteful  but  as  moral 
creatures ;  not  as  admirers  of  the  beautiful,  but  as  responsible 
agents,  every  one  of  whom  must  give  account  of  himself  unto 
God.  It  is  with  reference  to  the  moral  attributes  of  the  Most 
High,  his  spotless  holiness,  his  unchanging  truth,  his  boundless 
love,  and  his  paternal  goodness,  that  our  Savior  speaks,  when 
he  declares,  "  I  know  you,  that  ye  have  not  the  love  of  God 
in  you." 

2.  But  the  Scriptures  go  further  than  this.  It  is  evident  that, 
under  the  present  constitution,  it  is  the  will  of  our  Creator 
that  we  should  derive  happiness  from  a  great  variety  of  exter- 
nal objects.  Things  sensual,  social,  and  moral,  things  of  time 
and  of  eternity,  are  designed  to  furnish  for  us  sources  of  pleas- 
ure as  well  as  impulses  to  action.  So  long  as  these  were  en- 
joyed within  proper  limits,  and  in  due  subordination  to  the  will 
of  the  Creator,  the  happiness  of  man  was  perfect  and  his  virtue 
untarnished.  The  love  of  God  was  the  all-controlling  principle 
of  his  action,  and  to  this  affection  every  other  rendered  homage. 
But  when  the  love  of  God  was  banished  from  his  bosom,  the  love 
of  some  created  object  immediately  occupied  its  place.  The  re- 
straining powers  of  his  moral  affection  being  removed,  his  affec- 
tions were  surrendered  to  the  things  that  perish.  Hence  we  be- 
came sensual,  carnal,  having  not  the  spirit.  We  obey  the  desires 
o£the  flesh,  without  regard  to  the  will  of  God.  We  seek  the  pres- 
ent, regardless  of  the  future.  We  ask,  "  Who  will  show  us  any 
good  ? "  instead  of  asking  what  is  right  and  well-pleasing  to  our 
Father  who  is  in  heaven.  Thus  was  it  in  the  garden  of  Eden. 
God  had  said  of  the  tree  of  knowledge,  "  Thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it 
nor  touch  it."  But  when  the  woman  saw  that  the  tree  was  good 
for  food,  and  that  it  was  pleasant  to  the  eyes,  and  a  tree  to  be 
desired  to  make  one  wise,  she  took  of  the  fruit  thereof  and  did 
eat."  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  by  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  Be  aston- 


40    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD. 

ished,  O  ye  heavens,  at  this,  and  be  horribly  afraid ;  be  very 
desolate,  saith  the  Lord.  For  my  people  have  committed  two 
great  evils ;  they  have  forsaken  me,  J;he  fountain  of  living 
waters,  and  have  hewn  them  out  cisterns,  broken  cisterns, 
which  can  hold  no  water." 

Hence,  as  man  obeys  his  appetites  in  the  place  of  God,  the 
Bible  charges  upon  us  universal  sinfulness.  We  are  told  not 
only  that  the  love  of  God  is  not  in  us,  but  that  we  practically 
disobey  him.  "  When  God  looked  down  upon  the  children  of 
men  to  see  if  there  were  any  that  did  good,  they  had  all  gone  out 
of  the  way,  they  had  all  together  become  sinful."  The  apostle 
Paul,  in  treating  upon  this  subject,  declares  concerning  Jew  and 
Gentile,  —  that  is,  the  whole  human  race,  —  "  There  is  none 
righteous,  no  not  one,  there  is  none  that  understandeth,  there 
is  none  that  seeketh  after  Qod,  there  is  none  that  doeth  good, 
no,  not  one."  After  stating  in  detail  the  various  forms  of  this 
sinfulness,  he  concludes  as  follows  :  "  Now  we  know  that  what- 
soever the  law  saith,  it  saith  to  those  that  are  under  the  law, 
that  every  mouth  may  be  stopped,  and  all  the  world  become 
guilty  before  God."  The  love  of  God  being  withdrawn,  no 
action  can  proceed  from  this  motive,  but  all  must  proceed  from 
motives  sensual  and  earthly.  Or,  if  we  act  from  higher  and 
more  worthy,  as,  for  instance,  from  social  motives,  or  the 
dictates  of  moral  obligation  to  man,  the  love  of  God  being 
absent,  we  are  shut  out  from  communion  with  the  Holy  One, 
and  come  short  of  the  praise  of  God. 

3.  Let  us  proceed  to  another  consideration.  While  this 
change  has  taken  place  in  man,  the  law  of  God  has  remained 
unaltered.  The  command,  holy,  and  just,  and  good,  continues 
as  at  the  beginning :  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart."  Man  has  fixed  his  affections  on  the  creature,  instead 
of  the  Creator,  and  finds  his  only  happiness  in  enjoyments 
which  God  has  forbidden.  The  creature  is  thus  placed  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  Creator,  and  hence  there  arises  in  his 
bosom  a  dislike  to  God  and  the  government  of  God.  Man 
does  not  love  the  divine  omniscience,  because  it  looks  into  the 


MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD.    41 

secret  recesses  of  his  heart.  He  does  not  love  the  divine  holi- 
ness, because  it  is  opposed  to  the  courses  which  he  chooses  to 
pursue.  He  does  not  love  the  divine  justice,  because  it  will 
assuredly  recompense  to  every  man  the  due  reward  of  all  his 
deeds.  He  does  not  love  the  divine  goodness,  because  it  will 
make  only  the  holy,  obedient,  and  penitent  happy.  We  can 
easily  conceive  what  must  be  the  result  of  so  universal  an 
opposition  —  an  opposition  that  encompasses  us  every  where 
and  at  all  times,  and  which  must  reveal  itself  without  a  cover- 
ing in  the  world  of  truth,  to  which  we  are  tending. 

This  result  must  be  hostility.  We  cannot  but  dislike  a 
power  which  is  every  where  thwarting  our  plans  and  uttering 
its  solemn  rebuke  at  the  moment  when  we  are  revelling  in  our 
choicest  gratifications.  Hence  the  Scriptures  charge  upon  us 
not  only  dislike,  but  even  enmity  to  God.  Our  first  parents 
fled  from  the  presence  of  God,  to  hide  themselves  among  the 
trees  of  the  garden.  The  apostle  Paul  declares  that  men  do 
not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  and  that  so  intense 
is  this  dislike,  that  they  shut  out  the  idea  of  the  true  God,  by 
substituting  in  his  place  the  most  degrading  objects  of  idolatry. 
"Professing  themselves  to  be  wise,  they  became  fools,  and 
changed  the  glorious  and  incorruptible  God  into  an  image 
made  like  to  corruptible  man,  and  to  birds,  and  four-footed  beasts, 
and  creeping  things."  Thus  also  saith  he  in  another  place, 
"  The  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God,  for  it  is  not  subject 
to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be  ; "  that  is,  so  long  as  a 
man  is  carnal,  determined  to  derive  his  happiness  from  sources 
forbidden  by  his  Creator,  he  must  from  necessity  be  at  enmity 
with  God.  Nor  is  this  all.  The  Scriptures  teach  us  that  this 
enmity  is  capable  of  resisting  the  strongest  conviction  of  the 
understanding.  Thus  saith  the  Savior :  "  Light  has  come  into 
the  world,  and  men  have  loved  darkness  rather  than  light, 
because  their  deeds  are  evil."  Nay,  more,  this  enmity  is  un- 
affected by  the  longest  experience  of  the  goodness  of  God. 
"  Despisest  thou  the  riches  of  his  goodness,  and  forbearance, 
and  long-suffering;  not  knowing  that  the  goodness  of  God 
4* 


42    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD. 

leadeth  thee  to  repentance  ? "  But,  above  all,  the  inflexible 
nature  of  this  hostility  has  been  illustrated  in  the  reception 
which  has  been  given  to  the  message  of  mercy  by  Jesus  Christ. 
In  the  gospel,  God  draws  near,  beseeching  us  to  be  reconciled 
to  him ;  but  his  offer  is  universally  rejected.  Men,  with  one 
consent,  begin  to  make  excuse.  They  deliberately  choose  to 
remain  at  enmity  with  him,  rather  than  to  confess  their  sins, 
renounce  their  idols,  and  be  received  as  his  children,  through 
faith  in  his  well-beloved  Son. 

Here,  however,  let  it  be  observed,  I  do  not  assert  that  this 
enmity  against  God  is  a  sentiment  of  which  either  you  or  other 
men  are  of  necessity  conscious.  You  may,  on  the  contrary, 
be  shocked  when  you  hear  that  the  Scriptures  charge  such  a 
degree  of  wickedness  upon  us.  You  will  then  naturally  ask, 
"  How  can  this  enmity  exist  without  manifesting  itself  to  our 
consciousness  ?  "  The  answer,  I  think,  is  obvious.  We  cherish 
affections  directly  opposed  to  the  law,  and  at  variance  with  the 
character  of  God ;  but  we  have  learned  so  habitually  to  banish 
the  thought  of  God  from  our  minds,  that  the  hostility  which 
really  exists  does  not  become  a  matter  of  reflection.  We 
shut  out  the  light,  and  choose  to  abide  in  darkness,  and  are 
at  ease ;  but  this  by  no  means  proves  that  we  shall  remain  at 
ease  when  the  light  of  day  shall  burst  upon  our  sin-distempered 
vision.  The  Scriptures,  when  treating  on  this  subject,  always 
speak  of  our  moral  condition  as  it  actually  is,  and  as  it  must  of 
necessity  manifest  itself,  whenever  the  proper  opportunity  shall 
arrive.  We  cherish  feelings  directly  at  variance  with  the  holy 
government  of  God  ;  but  he  reveals  himself  to  us  at  present,  not 
as  a  God  doing  justice,  but  as  a  God  desiring  to  be  reconciled. 
He  is  long  suffering,  and  not  willing  that  any  should  perish. 
He  is  striving  by  his  goodness  to  lead  us  to  repentance.  But 
this  cannot  continue  always.  He  must  render  to  every  man 
according  to  his  deeds.  When  the  v,eil  of  flesh  shall  be  re- 
moved, the  full  blaze  of  all  his  perfections  must  burst  upon  us, 
and  then  must  the  opposition  of  our  character  to  his  reveal 
itself  in  all  its  intensity. 


MORAL    CHARACTER    OF    MAN.       LOVE    TO    GOJD.         43 

Once  more,  and  I  have  done.  The  Scriptures  teach  us  that, 
by  steadfast  continuance  in  sin,  we  are  forming  for  ourselves  a 
fixed  and  unalterable  character.  It  is  the  law  of  habit,  that, 
whether  we  will  or  will  not,  the  frequent  repetition  of  an  act 
produces  upon  us  a  permanent  effect,  creates  a  stronger  and 
stronger  tendency  to  this  act,  and  renders  a  change  of  charac- 
ter more  and  more  difficult,  and,  at  last,  practically  impossible. 
Such  is  the  effect  of  the  indulgence  in  sin.  That  it  should  be 
so  is  according  to  all  the  analogies  of  our  probationary  state. 
That  this  effect  has  been  produced  upon  us,  every  one  may 
learn  from  his  own  experience. 

I  might  easily  refer  to  various  passages  of  Scripture  in  which 
this  truth  is  cleajly  set  forth.  Thus  saith  the  prophet,  "  Can 
the  Ethiopian  change  his  skin,  or  the  leopard  his  spots  ? 
Then  may  ye  also  do  good  that  are  accustomed  to  do  evil." 
This  whole  subject  is,  however,  set  forth  by  the  apostle  Paul  hi 
the  seventh  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  with  a  graph- 
ic power,  which  leaves  no  room  for  misconception.  He  had 
before  shown  that  we  are  all  sinners,  and  hence  under  con- 
demnation for  our  past  offences.  He  here  teaches  that,  by 
sin,  our  moral  nature  is  so  disordered,  that  we  are  moreover 
helpless  in  our  iniquity.  In  illustrating  this  truth,  he  uses  the 
first  person,  for  the  purpose  of  designating  the  universal  con- 
dition of  man.  "  We  know,"  saith  he, "  that  the  law  is  spiritual ; 
but  I  am  carnal,  sold  under  sin.  For  that  which  I  do  I  allow 
not,  for  what  I  would,  that  I  do  not,  but  what  I  hate,  that  I  do. 
I  find,  then,  a  law  that  when  I  would  do  good,  evil  is  present 
with  me.  I  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward  man ; 
but  I  find  another  law  in  my  members,  warring  against  the  law 
of  my  mind,  and  bringing  me  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin 
in  my  members.  O  wretched  man-  that  I  am !  who  shall 
deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ?  "  In  such  language  as 
this  does  he  describe  the  internal  warfare  between  the  con- 
science and  the  passions,  and  the  constant  failure,  of  man  to 
live  in  obedience  to  the  law  which  he  acknowledges  to  be 
right.  Sucli,  then,  is  the  condition  in  which  we  find  ourselves 


44    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD. 

after  the  habit  of  sin  has  been  formed.  We  are  not  only 
guilty,  but  helplessly  guilty.  Hence,  by  the  deeds  of  the  law 
can  no  man  be  justified. 

We  learn  from  this  discussion  what  is  briefly  the  charge 
which  the  Scriptures  bring  against  man,  so  far  as  his  moral 
relations  to  God  are  concerned.  They  declare  that  he  is 
destitute  of  love  to  God ;  that  his  affections  are  given  to  things 
which  God  has  forbidden,  or  in  degrees  that  he  has  forbidden  ; 
hence,  that  there  has  arisen  in  the  bosom  of  man  a  sentiment 
of  hostility  to  his  Maker;  and  lastly,  that,  by  a  course  of  cease- 
less transgression,  this  hostility  has  become  the  fixed  habit  of 
his  soul.  If  such  be  the  facts,  we  must  perceive  that  every 
act  of  man  must  corne  short  of  the  praise  of  God.  God  de- 
mands and  deserves  our  supreme  affection.  Every  one  of  our 
actions  is  destitute  of  this  element ;  nay,  more,  it  acknowl- 
edges the  supremacy  of  the  passions  to  the  conscience,  and  of 
the  creature  to  the  Creator.  Thus  saith  the  text,  "  All  have 
sinned  and  come  short  of  the  praise  of  God." 

If  this  be  so,  we  must  be  aware  that  we  can  present  no  claim 
of  innocence,  on  the  ground  that  there  yet  may  be  discovered 
some  traces  of  virtue  in  man  when  his  relations  to  his  fellows 
alone  are  concerned.  That  such  virtues  do  exist  in  different 
degrees  among  us,  is  not  denied.  The  Scriptures  do  not  deny 
it.  But  this  admission  in  no  way  invalidates  the  truth  of  the 
doctrine  in  question.  The  charge  in  the  text  has  respect  to 
our  relations  to  God.  But  it  would  be  easy  to  show  that  as 
our  duty  to  God  is  involved  in  every  action  of  our  lives,  the 
action,  how  right  soever  in  other  respects,  yet  wanting  in  this 
essential  element,  is  eminently  faulty.  No  one  of  us  can 
therefore  conclude  that  his  life  is  right  in  the  sight  of  God  on 
account  of  the  existence  in  his  character  of  much  that  is  lovely, 
and  excellent,  and  of  good  report,  in  his  relations  to  his  fellow- 
men. 

Again :  No  one  of  us  is  warranted  in  the  belief  that  he  loves 
God  because  he  is  not  conscious  of  the  sentiment  of  hostility 
towards  him.  Our  Father  in  heaven  is  not  satisfied  with  this 


MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD.    45 

negative  moral  condition,  were  such  a  condition  possible,  in 
his  children  here  on  earth.  His  command,  the  obedience  to 
which  is  essential  to  our  happiness  both  here  and  hereafter,  is, 
"  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart ; "  and  this 
command  cannot  surely  be  obeyed  by  merely  refraining  from 
hating  him.  But  can  we  be  convinced  that  we  are  entitled  to 
the  praise  of  even  this  negative  virtue  ?  Is  it  not  the  fact  that 
we  have  no  consciousness  of  hostility  to  God  because  we  really 
think  nothing  about  him  ?  "  The  wicked,"  saith  the  Psalmist, 
"  through  the  pride  of  his  countenance,  will  not  seek  after 
God ;  God  is  not  in  all  his  thoughts."  We  cannot  indulge  in 
hostility  to  a  nonentity ;  and  what  is  not  in  all  our  thoughts 
is  truly  a  nonentity  to  us.  But  if  we  could  conceive  of  the 
character  of  God  as  it  really  exists,  and  behold  him  scru- 
tinizing every  thought,  registering  every  word,  and  observing 
every  action,  bringing  every  secret  thing  into  judgment,  and 
justly  offended  at  every  thing  unholy,  is  it  at  all  certain  that 
we  would  not  instantly  feel  that  God  and  ourselves  were  at 
irreconcilable  variance  ? 

But  we  shall  all  very  soon  behold  God  as  he  actually  is. 
When  we  lay  aside  this  earthly  tabernacle,  our  spirits  will  be 
at  once  in  the  presence  of  the  omnipresent  Spirit.  Then  we 
ourselves,  as  well  as  all  things  around  us,  will  appear  as  they 
are.  What  then  must  be  our  condition,  if  we  find  ourselves 
destitute  of  love  to  God,  hostile  to  all  his  perfections,  and  by 
our  own  act  fixed  in  this  condition  forever?  God  is  immu- 
table. We  have  hardened  ourselves  in  unchangeable  oppo- 
sition to  his  character  and  law.  What  result  can  possibly 
ensue  but  eternal  banishment  from  his  presence  ?  And  who 
could  be  so  appropriate  associates  for  us  as  those  whose  moral 
feelings  harmonize  with  our  own  ?  Our  own  consciences  must, 
approve  of  the  sentence  by  which  we  are  consigned  to  the 
dwelling-place  of  those  who  kept  not  their  first  estate.  What 
can  we  say  when  he  shall  punish  us  ? 

If  these  things  be  so,  I  am  sure  that  every  one  of  us  must 
be  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  a  radical  moral  change  in  the 


46    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD. 

character  of  man  before  he  can  meet  God  and  be  at  peace. 
Reason  reechoes  the  saying  of  the  Messiah  —  "  Unless  a  man 
be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God."  Whatever," 
then,  may  be  our  hopes,  unless  we  have  been  renewed  in  the 
spirit  of  our  mind,  we  are  still  enemies  to  God  by  wicked 
works.  Are  we  willing  to  cherish  this  enmity,  and  reap  its 
results  forever?  No  one  would  dare  to  choose  for  himself 
such  a  doom.  Let  us,  then,  escape  it  by  penitence  and  faith 
now,  while  change  is  possible.  Penitence,  even  were  it  possi- 
ble beyond  the  grave,  would  there  avail  us  nothing.  "  Let, 
then,  the  wicked  forsake  his  way,  and  the  unrighteous  man  his 
thoughts,  and  turn  unto  the  Lord,  for  he  will  have  mercy  upon 
him,  and  unto  our  God,  for  he  will  abundantly  pardon." 


THE  MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN 
LOVE    TO    GOD. 


"  EVEN  AS  THEY  DID  NOT  LIKE  TO   RETAIN   GOD  IN  THEIR  KNOWLEDGE, 
GOD   GATE  THEM   OVER  TO   A   REPROBATE  MIND." 

Romans  i.  28. 

IN  the  preceding  discourse,  I  attempted  to  exhibit  the 
teaching  of  the  Scriptures  in  respect  to  the  moral  character 
of  man.  I  suppose  that  the  Bible  charges  us  with  being  desti- 
tute of  love  to  God,  alienated  in  our  affections  from  him,  and 
enemies  to  him  by  wicked  works  ;  it  also  declares  that  we  are 
steadily  pursuing  a  course  which  must  render  these  moral  dis- 
positions fixed  and  unalterable  so  long  as  we  exist.  I  propose, 
on  the  present  occasion,  to  pursue  this  subject  somewhat 
further,  and  to  show  that  these  declarations  of  the  word  of  God 
are  perfectly  in  accordance  with  the  facts  that  have  been  dis- 
closed in  the  history  of  our  race. 

That  man  at  first  was  created  in  his  present  moral  condition 
has  not  generally  been  deemed  probable.  It  seems  scarcely 
credible  that  a  holy  and  most  merciful  God  would  have  made 
originally  a  creature,  and  specially  a  probationary  creature, 
with  such  a  proneness  to  evil  as  man  has  every  where  dis- 
played. Hence  the  opinion  that  there  has  come  over  our 
race  some  great  moral  change,  has  been  almost  universal. 
The  classical  mythology  represented  the  progenitors  of  our 
race  as  guileless,  virtuous,  and  pious,  the  inhabitants  of  a 
world  where  the  curse  came  not,  but  where  all  things  minis- 
tered to  their  happiness.  Man,  .however,  soon  degenerated. 


48    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD. 

The  golden  age  gave  place  to  the  age  of  brass,  and  this  in 
turn  to  the  age  of  iron ;  thorns  and  thistles  mocked  the  labors 
of  man,  who  had  become  a  sinner ;  diseases  cut  short  his 
days  ;  the  box  of  Pandora  was  opened,  and  mourning,  lamen- 
tation, and  woe  became  the  inheritance  of  our  apostate  race. 

This  idea,  thus  dimly  shadowed  forth  in  heathen  mythology, 
is  clearly  and  definitely  presented  in  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
They  teach  us  that  God  created  man  upright,  with  moral 
powers  holding  such  a  relation  to  his  sensual  appetites  that  he 
was  fully  prepared  to  enter  upon  his  probation  with  every 
prospect  of  success.  "  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in 
the  image  of  God  created  he  him."  "  And  God  saw  every 
thing  that  he  had  made,  and  behold  it  was  very  good."  Under 
these  circumstances  there  was  nothing  to  restrict  the  intercourse 
between  the  Creator  and  man,  any  more  than  between  the 
Creator  and  any  other  holy  being  whom  he  had  made. 
Hence  the  communion  of  heaven  with  earth  was  free  and 
unrestrained.  God  revealed  himself  personally  to  man,  made 
known  to  him  his  will,  and  taught  him  the  consequences  which 
must  result  both  from  obedience  and  disobedience.  Thus  we 
learn  that,  at  the  beginning,  man  was  well  instructed  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  character  and  law  of  his  Creator. 

But  man,  having  been  created  a  moral  agent,  in  addition  to 
reason  and  conscience,  and  appetites  and  passions,  was  en- 
dowed with  the  awful  power  of  will.  The  motives  for  his 
conduct  having  been  presented,  he  was  left  in  absolute  free- 
dom to  choose  between  them.*  But  man,  being  in  honor, 

*  " I  made  him  just  and  right, 

Sufficient  to  have  stood,  though  free  to  falL 

Such  I  created  all  the  ethereal  powers 

And  spirits,  both  them  who  stood  and  them  who  failed  : 

Freely  they  stood  who  stood,  and  fell  who  fell. 

Not  free,  what  proof  could  they  have  given  sincere 

Of  true  allegiance,  constant  faith,  or  love, 

Where  only,  what  they  needs  must  do,  appeared, 

Not  what  they  woiild  ?    What  praise  could  they  receive  ? 


MORAL    CHARACTER   OF    MAN.       LOVE    TO    GOD.         49 

abode  not.  He  chose  to  disobey  God,  led  astray  by  the 
allurements  of  sense,  and  fell  from  the  high  dignity  in  which 
he  had  been  created.  Renouncing  his  allegiance  to  God,  he 
became  of  necessity  the  slave  of  his  passions.  The  supreme 
affection  of  man  having  been  withdrawn  from  God,  it  was 
bestowed  upon  the  creature.  Conscience  was  dethroned,  and 
her  sceptre  was  surrendered  to  appetite.  Yet,  though  the 
just  subordination  of  his  powers  among  themselves  was  thus 
overthrown,  the  powers  themselves  remained.  Neither  con- 
science, nor  passion,  nor  reason,  nor  taste,  nor  memory,  nor 
will,  had  been  annihilated.  Sin  neither  abolished  our  knowl- 
edge of  God,  nor  our  capacity  for  recognizing  his  attributes 
as  they  are  displayed  in  the  things  that  are  made.  Hence, 
notwithstanding  his  fall,  man  was  still  capable  of  a  true  con- 
ception of  the  character  of  God,  and  a  clear  conviction  of  the 
obligations  by  which  we  are  bound  to  obey  him. 
•  Under  these  conditions,  the  results  of  this  early  trial  of  our 
race  were  abundantly  disastrous.  The  wickedness  of  man  be- 
came so  intolerable,  that,  with  the  exception  of  a  single  family, 
God  swept  away  from  the  face  of  the  earth  its  entire  popula- 
tion. "  God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man  was  great  upon 
the  earth,  and  that  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his 
heart  was  only  evil  continually.  And  it  repented  the  Lord  that 
he  had  made  man  on  the  earth,  and  it  grieved  him  at  the  heart. 
And  the  Lord  said,  I  will  destroy  man  whom  I  have  created 
from  the  face  of  the  earth."  Such  was  the  character  and  such 
the  destiny  of  the  antediluvian  fathers  of  mankind. 

After  the  race  had  been  thus  destroyed  by  the  flood,  a 
second  parentage  was,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  granted  to 
mankind,  and  granted  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances. 

What  pleasure  I  from  such,  obedience  paid, 
When  will  and  reason,  (reason  also  is  choice,) 
Useless  and  vain,  of  freedom  both  despoiled, 
Made  passive  both,  had  served  necessity, 

Not  me?" 

Paradise  Lost,  Book  HI.  98—110. 

5 


50    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD. 

Noah  was  a  just  man  and  perfect  in  his  generations.  And 
Noah  walked  with  God.  "  Thee  have  I  seen  righteous  before 
me  in  this  generation."  It  seems  as  though  God  had  selected 
the  most  virtuous  man  on  earth  to  be  the  second  father  of  our 
race,  in  order  that  our  probation  might  proceed  with  every 
prospect  of  success.  After  the  catastrophe,  in  which  the  mil- 
lions of  his  contemporaries  were  swept  away,  God  revealed 
himself  to  Noah,  and  made  to  him  most  gracious  promises  of 
favor  and  protection.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that,  for  a 
long  period  after  this  event,  mankind  enjoyed  a  clear  and  ex- 
tensive knowledge  of  the  character  and  law  of  God ;  a  knowl- 
edge rendered  the  more  impressive  by  the  recent  vindication 
of  his  justice.  We  find  that  the  patriarchs,  in  their  extensive 
migrations,  met  among  different  nations  the  devout  worshippers 
of  the  true  God.  Abraham,  the  father  of  the  Hebrew  com- 
monwealth, paid  tithes  to  Melchizedek,  as  to  a  person  more 
pious  than  himself;  and  was  afterwards  rebuked  by  the  right- 
eous king  of  Gerar  for  base  equivocation.  A  similar  event 
occurred  in  the  history  of  the  patriarch  Isaac.  Very  distinct 
traces  of  a  knowledge  of  the  true  God  may  be  discovered 
among  the  Gentile  nations  at  as  late  a  period  as  that  of  the 
entrance  of  the  Jews  into  the  land  of  Canaan.  None  of  the 
inspired  prophets  have  spoken  of  the  character  of  the  Most 
High  in  sublimer  language,  or  have  been  more  fearfully  im- 
pressed with  the  vision  of  his  holiness,  than  Balaam,  the  mys- 
terious seer  of  Moab.  And  even  at  the  present  day,  as  the 
enterprise  of  our  missionary  pioneers  is  discovering  new  tribes 
of  the  human  family,  we  occasionally  perceive  clear  indications 
of  traditionary  knowledge,  which  could  have  descended  from 
none  other  than  an  inspired  source.  That  such  is  the  fact  in 
respect  to  the  Karens,  a  people  scattered  throughout  the  jungles 
of  Burmah,  I  fully  believe.  These  ignorant  barbarians,  desti- 
tute of  a  priesthood,  and  without  a  written  language,  had 
retained  among  themselves  a  collection  of  moral  precepts, 
which  for  purity  and  beauty  surpass  every  thing  that  has  come 
down  to  us  from  the  most  refined  nations  of  antiquity ;  and 


MORAL    CHARACTER   OF    MAN.        LOVE    TO    GOD.        5) 

which  are  intimately  allied  to  the  teachings  of  revelation  itself 
Whether,  therefore,  we  take  the  Holy  Scriptures  or  profant 
tradition  for  our  authority,  we  are,  I  think,  justified  in  believing 
that  the  race  of  man  commenced  the  second  period  of  its  pro- 
bation with  a  competent  knowledge  of  the  existence,  attributes, 
and  moral  requirements  of  the  Creator. 

But,  although  this  knowledge  of  God  remained  in  the  pos- 
session of  man,  his  moral  nature  continued  unchanged.  His 
passions  were  still  at  war  with  his  conscience,  and  in  every  con- 
test they  came  off  victorious.  The  ever-present  idea  of  a  holy 
God  gave  energy  to  the  moral  sense,  and  rendered  its  rebukes 
more  intensely  painful.  The  man  would  sin  in  spite  of  his 
knowledge,  and  he  suffered  at  every  transgression  the  pangs 
of  remorse.  Thus  the  knowledge  of  God  became  a  source 
of  incessant  moral  anguish,  and  it  was  natural  that  he  should 
endeavor  to  escape  from  it.  He  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in 
hLs  knowledge.  God,  justly  indignant  at  the  wickedness  of  the 
creature,  gave  him  over  to  a  reprobate  mind  ;  that  is,  he  left 
him  to  his  own  choices,  and  sufFered  him  to  work  out  the 
inevitable  results  of  his  deliberate  transgression. 

The  manner  in  which  these  results  were  accomplished  may, 
I  think,  be  observed  by  a  reference  to  the  moral  history  of 
man. 

We  have  seen  that,  as  long  as  man  yielded  himself  up  to  the 
dominion  of  passion,  the  knowledge  of  God  must  have  been 
painful.  But  his  intellectual  nature  demanded  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  a  first  cause,  while  his  moral  nature  required  some 
object  of  veneration.  As  the  idea  of  the  true  God  had  become 
painful,  he  naturally  sought  to  satisfy  these  primary  wants  of  his 
spiritual  constitution  by  providing  for  himself  some  object  of 
veneration,  which  might  be  worshipped  without  giving  addi- 
tional powers  to  the  stings  of  conscience.  To  accomplish  this 
has  been  the  object  of  mankind  from  the  earliest  ages  to  the 
present  moment. 

The  first,  and  perhaps  the  most  natural,  step  in  the  path  of 
moral  degradation,  was  to  deify  the  distinguished  dead.  While 


52    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD. 

living  they  had  conferred  benefits  on  man,  and  received  the 
tribute  of  his  grateful  homage.  The  feelings  of  the  human 
heart  could  not  consign  them  to  forgetfulness.  If  the  dead 
existed  in  another  state,  they  might  there  exert  some  power  in 
behalf  of  the  living.  If  to  this  we  add  the  susceptibility  of 
the  heart  under  sorrow,  and  the  disposition  to  praise  when 
applause  can  awaken  no  envy,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  the  custom  of  deifying  deceased  men  would  become 
extensively  prevalent. 

Such,  I  think,  seems  to  have  been  the  origin  of  the  my- 
thology, both  of  classic  and  barbarian  antiquity.  The  original 
deities  of  heathen  idolatry  were  manifestly,  I  think,  distin- 
guished monarchs  or  remarkable  benefactors.  Jupiter,  the 
father  of  the  gods,  was,  as  we  are  told,  born  in  the  Island  of 
Crete,  and  the  names  of  his  parents  are  even  indicated.  Ceres 
was  the  first  instructor  of  the  human  race  in  the  arts  of  agri- 
culture. Vulcan  was  the  discoverer  of  the  uses  of  iron.  The 
same  idea  may  be  traced  throughout  the  Egyptian  and  Hindoo 
mythology.  Such  were  the  dii  majores,  the  original  deities 
which  men  first  received  to  a  participation  in  the  worship  due 
only  to  Jehovah. 

The  same  fact  is  further  illustrated  by  the  multiplication  of 
demigods  which  succeeded  this  first  deification.  Hercules, 
Castor  and  Pollux,  the  Muses,  Esculapius,  Achilles,  and  a 
thousand  others,  were  the  dii  minores,  the  lesser  gods,  the 
offspring  of  a  deity  and  a  human  being.  This  parentage 
indicates,  I  think,  the  origin  of  the  gods  themselves,  since 
deified  men  would  naturally  be  connected  by  the  ordinary 
ties  of  passion  with  those  from  whom  they  sprang.  Hence 
arose  the  universal  disposition  to  claim  consanguinity  with  the 
gods,  until,  at  last,  the  relationship  became  so  universal  as  to 
confer  no  title  to  honor.  At  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great, 
these  notions  had  passed  into  desuetude,  and  his  claims  of 
descent  from  Jupiter  were  laughed  at  by  his  contemporaries. 

Here,  however,  I  think  it  important  to  remark,  that  these 
deities  were  not  originally  introduced  as  substitutes  for  the  true 


MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD.    53 

God.  They  were  merely  intercessors,  mediators,  who  might 
influence  the  supreme  Divinity  to  be  favorable  to  us.  Some- 
tiling  approaching  nearer  to  the  frailty  of  humanity  seemed  a 
more  desirable  object  of  worship  than  the  holy  God  himself. 
Soon,  however,  this  preference  gradually  excluded  God  from 
the  conception  of  man,  and  the  deified  hero,  at  first  only  an 
intercessor,  was  at  length  worshipped  in  the  place  of  the 
supreme  Divinity.  Still  the  original  conception  was  not  com- 
pletely blotted  out,  and  hence  we  observe  that  Jupiter  and  all 
the  gods  were  governed  by  an  invisible  and  overruling  fate,  to 
which  they  were  obliged  to  yield  unquestioning  obedience. 
This  tendency  may,  I  think,  be  distinctly  observed  in  all  the 
phases  of  idolatry. 

This  was  the  first  step  in  human  degradation ;  it  was,  how- 
ever, a  descent  from  heaven  to  the  abyss.  It  was  exchanging 
the  Creator  for  the  creature.  It  was  taking  from  the  object 
of  worship  all  that  was  peculiar  to  the  Deity,  and  all  that  gave 
to  our  conception  of  him  legitimate  authority  over  the  con- 
science. It  was  removing  the  incorruptible  God  from  the 
throne  of  the  universe,  and  substituting  in  his  place  a  fiction 
of  our  own  imagination,  a  being  like  to  ourselves,  debased  by 
sensual  appetites,  delighting  in  polluted  gratifications,  liable  to 
sorrow  and  disappointment,  and  grieving  over  misfortune  like 
any  one  of  us. 

While,  however,  I  suppose  that  such  was  the  more  common 
manner  in  which  the  creature,  as  an  object  of  worship,  was 
substituted  for  the  Creator,  I  would  by  no  means  assert  that  it 
was  universal.  I  have  said  that  men  were  deified  on  account 
of  the  benefits  which  they  had  conferred.  The  same  princi- 
ple would  lead  to  the  deification  of  things  as  well  as  persons. 
In  this  manner  every  external  object  that  is  capable  of  doing  us 
good  may  become  a  deity.  Such  would  be  the  case  in  sparsely 
settled  communities,  where  the  passions  of  men  are  less  power- 
fully excited,  and  among  an  agricultural  people,  where  suc- 
cess in  labor  depends  upon  agents  which  we  cannot  control 
The  Persian  object  of  adoration  was  the  sun  or  fire,  whicl 
5* 


54    MORAL,  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD. 

they  believed  to  be  the  source  of  life,  both  animal  and  vege- 
table. The  Egyptians  worshipped  the  Nile  as  the  cause  of 
fertility,  and,  on  the  same  principle,  the  ichneumon  that  de- 
stroyed the  crocodile,  the  ox  that  tilled  the  land,  and  at  last 
the  leek  and  the  onion,  which  were  their  favorite  articles  of 
food.  Our  aborigines  worshipped  several  animals  of  the 
chase.  And,  in  general,  among  idolatrous  nations  we  find 
that  animals  frequently  are  held  sacred,  either  on  account  of 
the  benefits  which  they  confer  or  the  injuries  which  they  in- 
flict. It  is  for  this  latter  reason  that  many  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  hold  the  shark  in  religious  ven- 
eration. 

Let  us^here  pause  for  a  moment,  and  observe  what  must 
be  the  effect  produced  upon  the  moral  condition  of  man  by 
this  substitution  of  the  creature  for  the  Creator.  I  think  it 
evident  that  the  conscience  of  man  can  never  maintain  its 
supremacy  over  the  passions,  unless  its  decisions  are  en- 
forced by  a  belief  in  the  existence  of  such  a  Deity  as  the 
Scriptures  reveal ;  an  omnipotent  Being,  of  almighty  power, 
boundless  goodness,  immaculate  purity,  and  inflexible  justice. 
Nothing  less  than  this  will  hold  in  check  the  violence  of  hu- 
man passion,  and  repress  the  all-grasping  tendency  of  human 
selfishness.  But  by  this  change  in  the  object  of  worship 
all  this  restraint  is  removed,  and  conscience  is  left  single- 
handed  to  struggle  against  the  united  strength  of  sensual  and 
selfish  impulses.  I  say  single-handed,  but  this  does  not  ad- 
equately express  the  truth.  The  unseen  powers  to  which  con- 
science looked  for  aid  have  more  commonly  become  treach- 
erous friends,  who  were  themselves  in  league  ajrninst  her. 
The  deities  above  were  the  patrons  of  crime  and  the  exem- 
plars of  impurity.  They,  in  the  hour  of  trial,  took  part  with 
her  adversaries,  and  hence  the  triumph  of  the  passions  was 
complete. 

But  other  results  flowed  from  the  increased  intensity  thus 
given  to  human  passion,  which  rendered  the  moral  degra- 
dation of  man  yet  more  hopeless.  When  the  passions  are 


MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD.    55 

vehemently  excited,  desire  for  gratification  absorbs  every  other 
idea.  At  such  a  moment  man  specially  feels  his  own  impo- 
tence, and  perceives  that  the  future  is  wholly  beyond  his 
control.  After  having  done  his  utmost  to  command  success, 
he  naturally  looks  upward  to  some  higher  power  to  render 
the  means  which  he  has  chosen  effectual.  The  warrior,  on 
the  eve  of  a  battle,  knows  that  the  victory  which  shall  lead  to 
dominion  cannot  be  rendered  certain  either  by  the  penetra- 
tion of  his  own  sagacity  or  the  prowess  of  his  own  arm.  Af- 
ter his  last  order  has  been  issued,  he  is  conscious  that  the 
result  is  in  the  hands  of  some  power  higher  than  himself. 
His  mind  naturally  turns  to  some  being  whose  aid  he  may 
invoke  in  directing,  for  his  advantage,  the  unseen  events  of 
the  morrow.  His  soul,  agitated  by  contending  emotions, 
turns  to  some  one  of  the  conceptions  with  which  his  im 
agination  is  filled,  and  to  it  he  commends  himself  and  his 
fortunes.  Should  he  prove  victorious,  the  object  of  his  wor- 
ship will  henceforth  be  to  him  and  to  his  army  the  god  of 
war.  In  the  same  manner  the  glutton  and  the  drunkard  would 
wish  for  a  deity  who  might  mitigate  the  paroxysm  of  fever 
or  avert  the  stroke  of  apoplexy.  The  miser,  devising  schemes 
of  unrighteous  gain,  would  need  a  deity  to  grant  him  success, 
and  the  robber  would  sacrifice  to  a  god  before  he  proceeded 
on  his  errand  of  burglary. 

You  see  thus  that  man,  having  assumed  to  himself  the 
power  of  creating  gods,  would  naturally  multiply  them  al- 
most without  number.  No  passion  can  be  conceived  of,  so 
base  that  it  did  not  desire  a  deity  whose  aid  it  might  invoke  ; 
and  its  desire  was  rarely  for  a  long  time  unsatisfied.  Profli- 
gacy, ambition,  and  sensuality  in  every  form,  readily  created 
deities,  who  were  their  especial  patrons.  Hence  vice  appeared 
on  earth  armed  with  the  authority  of  the  Divinity.  Yet  even 
here  the  voice  of  conscience  was  not  altogether  silent.  There 
would  yet  remain  some  to  whom  these  excesses  would  appear 
morally  odious.  Even  licentious  men,  when  the  storm  of 
passion  had  subsided,  might  doubt  whether  a  life  of  violence 


56    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD. 

and  sensuality  must  not  meet  its  appropriate  reward.  It  was 
necessary  to  advance  a  step  farther,  and  silence  the  moni- 
tions of  the  moral  sense,  by  bringing  them  into  harmony  with 
the  will  of  the  deities.  When  this  was  done,  the  reign  of 
passion  must  be  absolute. 

This  step  was  easily  taken.  If  the  gods  above  presided 
over  the  human  passions,  and  taught  men  the  means  by  which 
they  could  be  gratified,  the  acts  which  passion  dictated  would 
of  course  be  their  most  acceptable  worship.  As  there  was 
a  god  devoted  to  every  passion,  it  only  remained  to  ordain 
for  each  such  rites  as  were  in  accordance  with  his  attributes. 
Thus  the  veneration  for  the  gods,  which  conscience  itself 
teaches,  would  be  the  very  means  of  sanctioning  the  most 
shocking  immoralities.  Conscience  and  passion  would  hence- 
forth teach  the  same  lesson,  and  no  obstacle  would  exist  to 
the  universal  indulgence  in  unblushing  licentiousness.  To 
aid  in  working  out  this  result,  temples  were  erected  without 
number  to  every  conceivable  divinity,  and  to  preside  over 
the  rites  of  each  a  numerous  and  well-fed  priesthood  was 
appointed.  The  most  exquisite  artistical  skill  was  lavishly 
employed  to  surround  the  worship  of  sensuality  with  the  most 
attractive  charms.  Shrines,  the  admiration  of  all  succeed- 
ing ages,  crowned  every  hill-top  and  adorned  every  grove. 
Statuary  of.  exquisite  beauty  realized  in  marble  the  most 
revolting  conceptions.  Every  grotto  and  fountain  acknowl- 
edged its  tutelary  divinity,  and  sent  forth  its  priests  to  sum- 
mon the  people  to  its  idolatrous  rites.  The  slavery  of  man 
to  the  senses  and  the  passions  was  fast  rivetted  upon  him,  as 
it  seemed,  forever.  The  secret  chamber  and  the  solemn  tem- 
ple, the  distant  grove  and  the  thickly-peopled  city,  resounded 
with  nothing  but  the  struggle  for  mastery  and  the  revel  of 
licentiousness.  Men  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowl- 
edge, and  God  gave  them  over  to  a  reprobate  mind. 

These  remarks,  as  you  perceive,  have  been  made  with 
special  reference  to  the  nations  of  classic  antiquity.  But  the 
same  principles  have  wrought  out  the  same  results  wherever 


MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  COD.    57 

the  progress  of  civilization  has  cherished  their  natural  devel- 
opment This  fact  is  illustrated,  for  instance,  in  the  history 
of  the  Hindoo  mythology.  The  early  divinities  of  the  religion 
of  Brama  were,  as  I  have  suggested,  deified  men.  These, 
in  the  process  of  time,  were  greatly  multiplied.  Next  were 
added  gods  to  preside  over  the  human  passions.  Worship 
was  made  to  conform  to  the  character  of  the  deity  to  whom 
it  was  offered,  until,  at  the  present  time,  there  is  not  a  crime 
so  nefarious  that  you  may  not  commit  it  as  an  act  of  devo- 
tion to  some  one  of  their  millions  of  deities.  Hence  the  moral 
character  of  the  people  is,  in  many  respects,  intimately 
allied  to  that  of  Greece  and  Rome  at  the  period  of  their  deep- 
est degradation.  The  modern  traveller  cannot  describe  to  us 
the  scenes  depicted  on  the  walls  of  Herculaneum  and  Pom- 
peii ;  and  the  missionary  returning  from  Bengal  refuses  to 
utter  the  abominations  that  are  witnessed  by  assembled  thou- 
sands as  the  most  acceptable  sacrifice  to  the  gods,  on  the 
days  of  their  solemn  devotion. 

Now,  if  man  had  possessed  no  other  knowledge  of  God  than 
that  derived  from  tradition,  this  downward  tendency  in  our 
race  would  surely  have  seemed  remarkable.  We  might  have 
expected  that  intelligent  and  moral  creatures  would  have  cher- 
ished a  knowledge  of  their  Creator  as  a  most  invaluable  treas- 
ure, and  transmitted  it  unimpaired  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion. But,  during  all  this  period,  "  God  did  not  leave  himself 
without  a  witness,  in  that  he  did  good,  and  gave  us  rain  from 
heaven,  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling  our  hearts  with  food  and 
gladness."  That  knowledge  of  God  which  might  be  obtained 
by  the  study  of  his  works  is  in  all  ages  open  to  mankind. 
"  The  heavens  ever  declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firma- 
ment showeth  forth  his  handy  work.  Day  is  uttering  speech 
unto  day,  and  night  unto  night  is  showing  knowledge  ;  and 
there  is  no  speech  nor  language  where  their  voice  is  not 
heard."  The  writings  of  Socrates  indicate  to  us  the  extent 
to  which  the  knowledge  derived  from  this  source  may  be 
attained,  and  the  facts  from  which  he  reasoned  were  spread 


58    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD. 

before  all  men.  Notwithstanding  this,  there  was  none  that 
was  seeking  after  God.  No  one  was  asking,  Where  is  God 
my  Maker  ?  unless  as  a  question  of  metaphysical  speculation. 
They  remained,  even  in  the  days  of  the  intellectual  glory  of 
Greece,  the  slaves  of  a  debasing  and  abominable  idolatry-. 
I  do  not  know  that  any  clearer  illustration  can  be  presented 
of  the  truth  of  the  assertion  in  the  text  than  that  which  these 
facts  exhibit.  If  men  had  liked  to  retain  God  in  their  knowl- 
edge, such  a  tendency,  working  out  such  results,  could  not 
have  existed.  The  moral  history  of  man  bears  witness  to  the 
truth  of  the  divine  declaration,  that  all  men  have  sinned  and 
come  short  of  the  glory  of  God ;  and  that,  as  they  changed 
the  true  God  into  a  lie,  and  worshipped  and  served  the  crea- 
ture more  than  the  Creator,  who  is  blessed  forever,  —  for  this 
cause  God  gave  them  over  to  vile  affections.  If  there  be  a 
God,  and  we  have  thus  forsaken  him,  surely  no  other  result 
than  this  could  reasonably  be  expected. 

Thus  far  I  have  attempted  to  exhibit  the  moral  tendency 
of  man  when  he  has  been  destitute  of  a  written  revelation. 
The  subject,  however,  is  capable  of  yet  further  illustration. 

It  was  when  the  whole  world  was  lying  in  the  wickedness 
of  which  I  have  spoken,  that  the  Messiah  appeared  to  take 
away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself.  By  the  light  of  nature 
we  might  have  discovered  the  justice  and  goodness  of  God, 
and  our  own  deep  and  inherent  sinfulness ;  but  we  could 
never  discover  a  way  in  which  he  could  be  just,  and  justify 
the  guilty.  But  Jesus  Christ  came  to  reveal  to  us  God  in  the 
character  of  a  Father,  willing  to  be  reconciled,  offering  to  us, 
as  a  free  gift,  pardon,  reconciliation,  and  eternal  life.  "  As 
Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  so  was  the  Son 
of  man  lifted  up,  that  whosoever  believed  on  him  might  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  The  thick  cloud  which 
veiled  the  mercy-seat  was  dispersed,  and  every  man  might  in 
humble  confidence  approach  our  Father  in  heaven  through 
the  mediation  of  his  well-beloved  Son.  The  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  a  message  from  God,  beseeching  men  to  repent  of 


MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD.    59 

their  sins,  and  yield  to  him  that  affection  which  is  his  most 
righteous  due. 

It  is  not  needful  that  I  here  reier  to  the  manner  in  which 
this  offer  of  pardon  was  received,  or  the  enmity  which  its  pro- 
mulgation excited  in  the  breasts  both  of  Jew  and  Gentile.  It 
is,  however,  difficult  to  account  for  the  fact,  that  an  offer  of 
restoration  to  piety  and  holiness  should  excite  men  to  wrath, 
unless  they  were  intensely  sinful.  But  passing  by  this  con- 
sideration, I  proceed  to  remark,  that  this  declaration  of  the 
willingness  of  God  to  receive  us  again  to  his  favor,  was  made 
in  a  language  at  that  time  universally  accessible,  and  thus  it 
was  rapidly  disseminated  throughout  the  civilized  world.  The 
written  revelation  was  accompanied  by  the  living  preacher,  and 
the  good  news  of  salvation  was  proclaimed  in  every  city  and 
village  of  the  Roman  empire.  The  truth  thus  promulgated, 
after  centuries  of  persecution,  aroused  the  slumbering  con- 
science of  man,  and  revealed  the  absurdity  of  the  rites  of 
heathenism.  It  banished  the  classical  mythology  from  the 
earth,  and  among  all  the  nations  of  the  then  known  world, 
established  its  claim  as  a  revelation  from  the  Most  High. 
Multitudes  of  men,  in  every  place,  were  the  examples  and  the 
witnesses  of  its  transforming  power.  Now,  it  might  well  be 
asked,  Could  such  a  revelation,  committed  to  writing,  univer- 
sally disseminated,  and  enforced  by  the  precepts  of  the  dis- 
ciples of  Christ,  be  again  hidden  from  the  eyes  of  men? 
Could  the  worship  of  God,  which  it  taught,  be  exchanged  for  a 
sensual  idolatry,  and  the  pure  doctrines  of  Jesus  be  made  the 
ministers  of  sin  ?  If  all  this  were  done,  it  would  surely  pre- 
sent a  still  stronger  illustration  of  the  truth  of  the  text,  —  they 
did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge. 

What  have  been  the  facts  in  this  case  ?  We  are  obliged  to 
answer,  that  the  downward  moral  tendency  of  our  race,  even 
under  these  circumstances,  was,  in  a  remarkable  manner, 
analogous  to  that  which  we  have  already  described  among  the 
heathen. 

The  church  of  Christ  had  scarcely  escaped  from  the  perse- 


60    MORAL  CHARACTER  OP  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD. 

cution  of  centuries,  before  the  priesthood  began  to  lay  claim  to 
the  authority  of  mediating  between  God  and  man.  This 
claim,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  was  admitted,  and  an  order  of 
men,  united  under  an  infallible  head,  was  acknowledged  to  be 
the  only  medium  through  whom  any  spiritual  blessing  could  be 
conveyed  to  mankind.  Their  teachings  were  alone  held  to  be 
obligatory  upon  the  conscience,  and  in  their  hands  were  de- 
posited the  keys  of  heaven  and  hell.  Where  such  an  institution 
existed,  the  Scriptures,  of  course,  could  be  of  no  practical  im- 
portance ;  for  of  what  value  can  be  a  written  law,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  infallible  lawgiver  ?  The  word  of  the  living  God 
was  thus  exchanged  for  the  doctrines  and  commandments  of 
men,  and  salvation  was  to  be  looked  for,  not  from  the  Re- 
deemer himself,  but  from  him  whom  he  had  appointed  to  be 
his  vicegerent  on  earth. 

This  was  the  first  step  in  the  progress  of  Christianized 
idolatry.  It  did  not,  however,  remove  man  far  enough  from 
God  to  silence  the  voice  of  conscience,  or  render  him  the 
sufficiently  passive  slave  of  an  ambitious  hierarchy.  Heav- 
enly intercessors  were  proposed,  who  might  present  our  prayers 
to  the  all-seeing  God,  and  through  whose  influence  we  might 
be  rendered  acceptable  to  our  Father  in  heaven.  The  Virgin 
Mary,  as  the  mother  of  God,  was  first  proposed  for  the  adora- 
tion of  the  faithful.  Peter  and  the  rest  of  the  apostles  soon 
shared  in  this  modified  homage.  To  them  very  soon  were 
added  beatified  martyrs,  confessors,  bishops,  and  saints,  good 
and  bad,  without  number,  until  the  calendar  was  crowded  with 
the  names  of  those  whom  Christian  men  were  commanded  to 
worship.  These  were  at  first  introduced  merely  as  interces- 
sors ;  but,  as  they  were  recognized  as  the  immediate  authors 
of  our  blessings,  prayer  was  soon  addressed  to  them,  instead 
of  to  God  himself.  As  in  ancient  paganism,  so  here,  again,  the 
cloud  of  inferior  deities  rendered  the  divinity  invisible  to  man. 
The  beatified  saint  took  the  place  of  the  deified  hero,  or  the 
half-mortal  demigod ;  the  true  God  was  again  exchanged  for  a 
false  one,  and  the  professed  disciples  of  Christ  worshipped  and 


MORAL    CHARACTER    OF    MAN.       LOVE    TO    GOD.        61 

served  the  creature  rather  than  the  Creator.  Nor  did  this  in- 
fatuation stop  here.  Images,  pictures,  relics,  became  objects 
of  worship,  and  thus  the  works  of  men's  hands,  or  the  moulder- 
ing relics  of  his  earthly  tabernacle,  were  adored  in  the  place 
of  the  ever-blessed  God. 

In  this  case,  as  in  the  other,  the  passions  formed  an  alliance 
with  the  natural  tendency  of  man  to  seek  for  aid  from  some 
supernatural  power.  As  the  ancient  pagan  selected  his  demi- 
god, so  the  paganized  Christian  selected  his  saint,  who  should 
aid  him  in  the  accomplishment  of  his  purposes,  or  avert  from 
him  the  retribution  which  he'  had  deserved.  Even  at  the 
present  day,  the  Greek  pirate  invokes  his  patron  saint  as  he 
leaps  on  board  the  vessel  which  he  has  devoted  to  destruction ; 
he  mutters  his  prayers  as  he  does  the  deed  of  murder,  and, 
returning  home,  offers  a  portion  of  his  spoils  to  the  Virgin,  in 
thankfulness  for  her  aid  in  his  nefarious  enterprise.  The 
Italian  assassin  repeats  his  pater  noster  as  he  whets  his  sti- 
letto, and  devoutly  crosses  himself  as  he  withdraws  it,  reeking 
from  the  bosom  of  his  rival.  Nor  was  mis  all.  If  God  have 
established  a  vicegerency  on  earth,  and  man  has  power  to 
forgive  sins,  he  may  well  be  supposed  to  have  power  also  to 
dictate  the  terms  on  which  forgiveness  may  be  obtained.  Nay, 
more ;  it  is  going  but  a  single  step  farther  to  assert  that  the 
authority  which  could  absolve  from  guilt  after  the  commission 
of  crime,  might  also  remit  the  penalty  in  anticipation.  Now 
all  this  was,  at  one  time,  actually  believed  throughout  Chris- 
tendom. It  is  easy  to  perceive  that  a  licentious  age  would 
gladly  avail  itself  of  such  a  doctrine  to  silence  the  voice  of 
conscience,  and  that  an  ambitious  priesthood  would  eagerly 
inculcate  it  as  a  means  for  the  attainment  of  universal  power. 
Such  were  the  results  that  actually  followed.  At  the  time  of 
the  reformation,  Christianity  was  supposed  merely  to  consist 
in  the  performance  of  rites,  and  in  obedience  to  the  priesthood, 
without  holding  the  most  remote  connection  with  purity  of 
manners  or  holiness  of  life.  It  was  conceded  that  a  man 
might  be  spotless  in  piety,  and  yet  live  in  the  practice  of  the 
6 


62    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  GOD. 

most  revolting  immorality.  Thus,  not  only  was  the  idea  of 
God  excluded  from  human  thought,  but  the  moral  power  of  the 
world  to  come  was  nothing  better  than  a  scourge  in  the  hands. 
of  the  hierarchy.  There  was  nothing  left  to  arrest  the  down- 
ward and  sensual  tendencies  of  our  nature.  The  corruption 
that  reigned  triumphant  in  city  and  country,  in  church  arid 
state,  among  ecclesiastics  and  laymen,  was  almost  without  a 
parallel,  except  in  the  grossest  periods  of  pagan  idolatry. 
Thus,  again,  was  the  truth  illustrated,  that  men  did  not  like  to 
retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  and  God  again  gave  them  over 
to  a  reprobate  mind. 

He  who  will  duly  consider  these  facts,  will,  I  think,  scarcely 
fail  to  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  there  is  in  the  heart  of  man 
a  moral  temper  averse  to  the  character  of  God ;  that  he  natu- 
rally strives  to  substitute  a  fiction  of  his  own,  as  an  object  of 
worship,  in  the  place  of  the  true  God ;  that,  this  having  been 
done,  all  safeguards  of  virtue  are  removed,  man  is  given  over 
to  a  reprobate  mind,  and  becomes  the  willing  slave  of  passion 
and  ^ensuality. 

But  has  this  tendency  in  human  nature  been  even  yet  eradi- 
cated ?  I  wish  that  there  was  sufficient  reason  for  answering 
this  question  in  the  affirmative.  At  the  reformation,  the 
Scriptures  were  again  given  to  the  people,  and  the  pure  light 
from  heaven  shone  once  more  among  the  nations.  Yet,  even 
in  Protestant  Christendom,  if  I  mistake  not,  undeniable  traces 
of  the  same  idolatrous  bias  have  from  time  to  time  discovered 
themselves.  The  priesthood,  in  some  instances,  has  again 
asserted  its  claim  to  the  right  of  mediating  between  God  and 
man ;  of  being  the  exclusive  interpreters  of  the  -holy  oracles, 
and  the  only  medium  through  which  the  grace  of  Christ  can  be 
conferred  upon  his  disciples.  Nay,  more ;  we  have  been  told 
that  our  acceptance  with  God  does  not  depend  absolutely  on 
faith  in  Christ  and  holiness  of  heart,  but  also  on  the  reception 
of  ordinances  from  the  hands  of  men  whom  God  has  intrusted 
with  the  monopoly  of  salvation.  I  cannot  but  regard  these 
arrogant  assumptions,  and  the  passive  acquiescence  with  whicn 


MORAL  CHARACTER  off  MAN.    LOVE  TO  GOD.    63 

they  are  so  frequently  received,  as  another  illustration  of  the 
tendency  to  which  I  have  alluded.  Nor  would  I  confine  the 
^application  of  these  remarks  to  any  period  or  to  any  sect. 
Wherever  the  ministry  assumes  to  be  lords  over  God's  heritage, 
instead  of  being  ensamples  to  the  flock ;  wherever  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  any  sort  whatever  are  exalted  above  holiness  of 
heart  and  a  humble  walk  with  God;  wherever  the  Christian 
pastor  claims  for  himself  exemption  from  that  law  which  Christ 
has  imposed  upon  all,  or  assumes  the  right  of  modifying  that 
law  for  his  own  convenience ;  and  whenever  these  doctrines 
are  believed  and  these  claims  allowed  by  the  people, — then  and 
there  the  seeds  of  idolatry  have  been  sown,  and  they  will  bear 
the  fruit  of  apostasy  from  the  faith.  While,  however,  I  affirm 
all  this,  I  would  by  no  means  speak  lightly  of  the  honesty  or 
the  .piety  of  the  men  who  believe  to  be  true  what  I  believe  to 
be  most  lamentably  false.  God  alone  can  determine  the  point 
beyond  which  error  becomes  incompatible  with  piety.  That 
which  is  false  can  never  be  made  true  by  the  piety  of  him  who 
affirms  it;  ft  only  derives  greater  power  to  deceive  from  his 
blameless  life  and  devout  conversation. 

I  have  thus  far  spoken  of  this  tendency  of  man,  as  it  has 
been  exhibited  in  the  history  of  nations  and  communities. 
But  the  subject  admits  of  a  more  personal  application.  If 
such  be  the  character  of  man,  it  is  the  character  of  every 
individual,  and  every  one  of  us  may  discover  its  lineaments 
engraven  upon  his  own  moral  nature.  Let,  then,  every  one 
of  us  answer  for  himself  the  question,  Is  the  love  of  God 
within  me  ?  In  order  to  do  this,  we  must  appeal  to  our  own 
consciousness.  Are  we  conscious  of  any  love  to  the  God 
revealed  to  us  in  the  Scriptures?  Nay,  I  will  go  further. 
Can  none  of  us  recollect  the  time  when  we  would  have  rejoiced 
beyond  measure,  could  we  have  satisfactorily  demonstrated  that 
an  all-seeing  and  all-holy  Lord  God  Almighty  never  existed  ? 
When  the  claims  of  God  upon  our  universal  love  and  obedi- 
ence have  been  pressed  upon  us,  do  none  of  us  remember  how 
our  whole  nature  has  revolted  against  them  ?  Have  we  never 


64    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.    LOVE  TO  GOD. 

been  conscious  of  a  settled  dislike  to  such  an  all-pervading 
government,  and  wished  that  there  was  some  other  universe, 
over  which  God  did  not  reign,  that  we  might  flee  to  it,  and 
escape  the  notice  of  his  all-seeing  eye  ?  Our  own  conscious- 
ness, therefore,  bears  witness  to  the  truth  of  the  text,  and  con- 
fesses that,  by  nature,  we  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  our 
knowledge. 

If  such,  then,  be  the  facts  disclosed  by  the  history  of  man, 
they  abundantly  confirm  the  truth  of  the  assertion  in  the  text. 
Man  by  nature  does  not  like  to  retain  God  in  his  knowledge, 
and  he  resorts  to  idolatry  in  every  form,  in  order  to  escape 
from  the  presence  of  his  Maker.  Shutting  out  God  from  his 
thoughts,  he  of  necessity  surrenders  himself  to  the  dominion 
of  the  passions  and  the  senses,  and  is  thus  given  up  of  his 
Creator  to  a  reprobate  mind.  If  such  be  the  facts,  lei  every 
one  of  us  ask  himself  what  must  be  the  end  thereof. 


THE  MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN. 
LOVE  TO  MAN. 


"AND  THE    SECOND    IS    LIKE    TTNTO    IT,    NAMELY,    THOU  SHALT  LOVE 
THT  NEIGHBOR  AS  THYSELF." 

Matthew  xxii.  36. 

I  HAVE,  in  previous  discourses,  attempted  to  illustrate  the 
first  commandment  of  the  law,  and  to  prove  that,  judged  by 
it,  every  man  must  stand  guilty  before  God.  I  suppose  it  to 
have  been  shown  that  we  do  not  like  to  retain  God  in  our 
knowledge ;  that  this  dislike  is  so  intense  as  to  lead  us,  by  the 
most  absurd  idolatry,  to  violate  the  dictates  of  our  understand- 
ing, in  order  to  escape  from  the  idea  of  an  all-seeing  and  most 
holy  God. 

Taking  these  facts  for  granted,  we  proceed  to  consider  the 
second  commandment  of  the  law,  and  to  inquire  whether  man 
can  plead  innocence  on  the  ground  of  obedience  to  its  re- 
quirements. 

Before,  however,  proceeding  to  consider  this  part  of  the 
subject,  a  preliminary  truth  deserves  a  passing  reflection.  It 
is  obvious  to  every  one  who  bears  in  mind  our  relations  to  God, 
that  our  obligation  to  obey  him  extends  to  every  action  of  our 
lives.  We  ourselves,  our  possessions,  our  faculties,  our  fellow- 
men  with  whom  we  are  conversant,  are  not  our  own.  God  is 
ihe  universal  Proprietor  of  all,  for  in  him  we  live,  and  move, 
ind  have  our  being.  He  is  the  Father  of  all,  and  he  justly 
requires  us  to  treat  our  brethren,  who,  equally  with  us,  are  his 
children,  as  he  shall  command.  And  yet  more,  he  is  entitled 
6* 


66    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  MAN. 

not  merely  to  obedience  in  the  outward  art,  but  to  filial  obedi- 
ence ;  that  is,  the  obedience  which  springs  from  love.  Hence, 
in  all  our  transactions  with  our  fellow-men,  we  are  required  to 
recognize  the  existence  of  both  these  commandments  —  "  Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,"  and,  "  Thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart."  This  latter  principle,  filial 
obedience  to  God,  must  enter  as  a  motive  into  every  action 
before  it  can  either  lay  claim  to  innocence  or  deserve  the  praise 
of  the  Creator.  It  is  this  sentiment  alone  that  can  sustain  virtue 
when  assaulted  by  temptation,  or  unite  us  by  any  tie  of  moral 
sympathy  with  our  Father  who  is  in  heaven. 

You  perceive,  then,  that  every  moral  act,  in  order  to  merit 
the  praise  of  God,  must  be  pervaded  by  the  element  of  love 
to  him.  If  this  element  be  wanting,  I  do  not  say  that  the  action 
is  destitute  of  virtue,  but  I  say  that  it  is  destitute  of  piety,  and 
that  it  would  have  been  performed  in  just  the  same  manner  if 
there  were  no  God.  Such  an  action  could  never  be  pleasing 
to  God ;  nay,  more,  by  the  amount  of  all  this  deficiency  it 
would  be  displeasing  to  him.  Suppose,  then,  a  man  to  obey 
perfectly  the  second  commandment  of  the  law,  while  he  was 
wholly  indifferent  to  the  most  blessed  God,  nay,  while  he  was 
deliberately  cultivating  in  himself  the  habit  of  settled  opposi- 
tion to  his  law  —  must  not  the  displeasure  of  the  Most  High  rest 
most  justly  upon  him  ?  But  we  have  already  shown  that  this 
latter  is  actually  the  moral  condition  of  man ;  that  the  love  of 
God  is  not  in  him,  and  that  he  does  not  like  to  retain  God  in 
his  knowledge.  Hence  it  is,  I  think,  evident  that,  were  the 
second  precept  of  the  law  faithfully  obeyed,  yet  so  long  as  man 
was  at  enmity  with  God,  he  would  still  remain  a  sinner  by  reason 
of  the  absence  from  all  his  actions  of  the  element  of  piety. 

We  always  judge  in  this  manner  respecting  any  other  case. 
The  keeping  of  one  precept  is  no  excuse  for  the  violation  of 
another.  If  a  man  obey  the  precept,  "  Thou  shalt  not  kill," 
this  can  in  no  manner  justify  him  in  the  violation  of  the 
precept,  "  Thou  shalt  not  steal."  Much  less  is  the  keeping,pf 
a  minor  and  subsidiary  precept  a  justification  of  the  violation 


MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  MAN.    67 

of  a  universal  and  all-controlling  precept.  If  a  man  be  guilty 
of  treason  against  his  country,  can  he  lay  claim  to  perfect 
innocence  because  he  has  always  paid  his  debts  ?  The  chief 
magistrate  of  a  nation  is  under  paramount  obligations  to  con- 
form his  whole  conduct,  both  public  and  private,  to  the  dictates 
of  justice,  veracity,  and  patriotism.  But  suppose  his  whole 
administration  is  disgraced  by  acts  of  oppression,  violence,  and 
treachery, — can  he  be  held  innocent  because  he  is  proved  to  be 
a  kind  husband  and  an  affectionate  parent  ?  When,  in  years 
long  gone  by,  it  was  urged  against  a  monarch  of  Great 
Britain,  that  he  had  repeatedly,  and  on  deliberation,  violated  his 
coronation  oath,  and  conspired  to  overthow  the  constitution  of 
the  realm,  it  was  never  held  to  be  a  justification  of  his  conduct, 
to  assert  that  he  had  taken  his  little  children  on  his  knee,  and 
kissed  them. 

I  think,  then,  it  may  easily  be  granted,  that  while  the  love 
of  God  is  excluded  from  the  heart  of  man,  even  though  he 
should  love  his  neighbor  as  himself,  he  would  still  fall  under 
the  condemnation  of  the  law  to  which  he  was  rendered 
amenable  by  his  Creator. 

And  here  we  may  pause  for  a  moment  to  observe  that  this 
general  truth  affords  an  easy  explanation  of  the  passage  in  the 
Epistle  of  James  —  "  Whosoever  shall  keep  the  whole  law,  and 
yet  offend  in  one  point,  he  is  guilty  of  all."  By  this  he  means 
simply  to  assert  that  a  single  deliberate  violation  of  any  par- 
ticular precept  of  the  law  of  God  sets  at  nought  the  authority 
of  the  Lawgiver,  and  demonstrates  that  the  creature  has  usurped 
the  place  in  our  affections  due  only  to  the  Creator.  The  love 
of  God  is  not  in  him,  for,  if  it  truly  exist  at  all,  it  must  be 
supreme,  and  hence,  all  his  actions,  being  destitute  of  this  ele- 
ment, are  in  the  sight  of  God  sinful,  and,  of  course,  deserving 
of  his  displeasure. 

Leaving  this  preliminary  consideration,  we  proceed  to  in- 
quire what  is  the  character  of  man  when  subjected  to  the  test 
of  obedience  to  the  second  precept  of  the  law,  "  Thou  shall 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 


68   MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.  LOVE  TO  MAN. 

Our  Lord  himself  has  explained  the  meaning  of  the  term 
neighbor  in  this  passage.  It  means  man,  every  man,  every 
child  of  Adam,  the  being  to  whom  we  are  connected  by  no 
other  tie  than  this,  that  he  is  a  brother  of  the  human  family. 

We  are  commanded  to  love  such  a  one  as  ourselves ;  that 
is,  not  as  we  do  love  ourselves,  but  as  we  may  rightfully 
love  ourselves.  To  enter  upon  a  complete  analysis  of  this 
precept,  and  illustrate  the  various  classes  of  actions  which  it 
renders  obligatory,  would  transcend  the  limits  of  this  discourse. 
It  will  be  sufficient  to  observe  that  self-love  incites  us  to  love 
our  own  happiness  upon  the  whole,  and  to  desire  the  uninter- 
rupted enjoyment  of  those  means  which  God  has  given  us,  in 
order  to  secure  it.  It  causes  us  to  feel  injured  and  aggrieved 
if  the  full  enjoyment  of  these  means  is  in  any  manner  cur- 
tailed by  our  fellow-men.  All  this  is  innocent  and  proper. 
Now,  in  this  manner  we  are  commanded  to  love  our  fellow- 
men.  We  must  as  intensely  desire  that  our  neighbor  may, 
without  interruption,  enjoy  the  means  of  happiness  which  God 
has  bestowed  upon  him,  as  we  desire  to  enjoy  them  ourselves  ; 
and  we  must  feel  the  same  sense  of  wrong  when  he  is  injured 
as  we  feel  when  we  ourselves  are  injured.  We  can  claim 
for  this  precept  no  less  comprehensive  signification  than  this  ; 
and  I.  think  that  every  man's  conscience  will  bear  witness  that, 
thus  interpreted,  it  really  expresses  the  obligation  existing  be- 
tween man  and  his  fellow-men. 

With  respect  to  the  natural  disposition  in  man  to  obey  this 
second  precept,  the  Scriptures  do  not  speak  as  definitely  as  in 
respect  to  the  first  and  great  commandment  of  the  law.  They 
have  nowhere  declared  that  the  love  of  man  is  not  in  us,  or 
that  we  do  not  like  to  retain  man  in  our  knowledge.  While 
they  speak  of  our  obedience  to  it  as  universally  deficient,  they 
do  not  definitely  find  the  limit  of  that  deficiency.  This  would 
be  impossible,  since,  in  respect,  to  this  precept,  our  obedience 
falls  short  of  the  praise  of  God  in  very  dissimilar  degrees.  The 
Bible  presents  us  with  instances  of  men  who  have  made 
various  attainments  in  virtue,  all,  however,  by  acknowledg- 


MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  MAN.    69 

ment,  imperfect ;  and  also  of  men  who  have  been  in  various 
degrees  guilty  of  crime,  but  of  none  as  so  bad  that  they  could 
not  wax  worse.  It  clearly  teaches  us  that  the  tendency  of  mail 
is  to  vice  rather  than  to  virtue ;  that  there  is  not  a  just  man 
on  earth  that  sinneth  not;  that  the  attainment  which  individ- 
uals and  nations  have  made  in  virtue  has  been  owing  to 
gracious  influences  bestowed  on  us  from  on  high ;  and  that  the 
moral  degradation  to  which  society  universally  tends  is  the 
natural  consequence  of  the  bias  towards  evil  which  has  existed 
in  us  since  the  fall.  To  define,  however,  the  extent  of  our 
sinfulncss,  it  has  not  attempted ;  it  only  asserts  that  all  men 
have  sinned,  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God. 

Nor,  indeed,  is  a  definite  statement  on  this  subject  in  any 
manner  necessary.  Our  fellow-men  are  every  where  around 
us.  In  almost  every  action  of  our  lives,  we  have  the  opportu- 
nity of  testing  both  their  dispositions  and  our  own  in  respect  to 
this  precept.  We  have  to  deal  with  this  matter  practically. 
Every  man  can  judge  for  himself  whether  or  not  his  fellow 
men  are  inclined  to  obey  the  law  of  reciprocity  when  they  can 
make  gain  by  disobeying  it.  Every  one  arrived  at  years  of 
discretion  knows  whether  the  ordinary  and  applauded  max- 
ims of  business  do  or  do  not  proceed  upon  the  principle,  that 
men  actually  love  their  neighbor  as  themselves.  Every  parent 
knows  whether  children,  at  a  very  early  age,  do  or  do  not 
manifest  this  tendency.  Nay,  we  can  all  determine  this  ques- 
tion, each  one  for  himself,  by  referring  to  the  testimony  of  his 
own  consciousness.  We  can  easily  tell  whether  selfishness  or 
disinterestedness  is  the  natural  bias  of  a  human  soul,  and 
whether  it  does  or  does  not  require  an  effort  to  do  justice  to 
our  neighbor  when  we  can  only  do  so  by  the  sacrifice  of  our 
own  interests.  We  all  know  whether  pure  and  impartial 
justice,  in  the  dealings  between  man  and  man,  is  the  rule  or 
the  exception ;  and  whether  he  who  should  describe  a  per- 
fectly good' man  as  an  actual  existence,  would  not  be  looked 
upon  as  a  retailer  of  fiction.  Nay,  were  such  a  man  to  appear 
on  earth,  we  could  be  by  no  means  sure  that  he  would  escape 


70    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  MAN. 

the  fate  of  Aristides,  who  was  banished  from  Athens  for  the 
reason  that  his  fellow-citizens  could  not  bear  to  hear  him 
always  denominated  the  just. 

Such  is,  I  believe,  the  universal  testimony  of  man.  The 
Scriptures  every  where  confirm  it,  though  they  never  deny 
that  some  portion  of  justice  exists  among  men ;  nor  do  they 
designate  the  particular  degree  in  which  man  has,  in  this 
respect,  gone  astray  from  original  righteousness.  I  shall,  in 
the  remainder  of  this  discourse,  attempt  to  present  some  con- 
siderations which  may  tend  to  illustrate  these  declarations  of 
the  word  of  God. 

In  treating  this  subject,  I  shall  not  set  before  you  particular 
instances  of  wickedness  exhibited  in  the  conduct  either  of 
individuals  or  of  nations.  These,  it  might  be  said,  are  extreme 
cases,  owing  to  particular  circumstances,  and  not  therefore 
justly  to  be  laid  to  the  charge  of  men  universally.  We  shall, 
therefore,  draw  our  argument,  not  from  particular  cases,  but 
from  facts  of  the  most  general  character,  which  meet  the  eye 
wherever  it  is  turned  thoughtfully  upon  actions  of  mankind. 

I  think,  then,  it  is  evident,  that  the  moral  disposition  of  man, 
in  this  respect,  must,  by  necessity,  determine  the  form  of 
social  organization  wherever  individuals  unite  in  a  community. 
In  establishing  the  principles  by  which  a  society  of  moral  and 
intelligent  creatures  should  be  governed,  you  would  proceed  in 
one  way  if  every  one  of  them  loved  his  neighbor  as  himself, 
and  in  a  very  different  way  if  every  one  of  them  loved  him- 
self better  than  his  neighbor.  Safeguards,  limitations,  punish- 
ments, would  be  necessary  in  one  case  that  would  be  unneces- 
sary in  the  other.  Thus,  also,  by  observing  the  framework  of 
any  society,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  discover  what  was 
the  kind  of  beings  for  whose  benefit  it  was  constructed.  In 
examining  a  machine,  there  is  little  difficulty  in  determining 
whether  it  is  designed  to  float  in  the  air  like  a  balloon,  or  tear 
up  the  greensward  like  a  plough.  So,  by  examining  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  human  society  is  formed,  it  will  not  be  difficult 
to  ascertain  whether  it  was  intended  for  beings  who  were  by 


MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  MAN.    71 

nature  disposed  to  obey,  or  for  those  by  nature  disposed  to 
disobey,  the  commandment  in  the  text. 

I.  I  remark,  then,  in  the  first  place,  that  our  first  conception 
of  social  organization  proceeds  upon  the  supposition  that  men 
are  naturally  inclined  to  violate  this  law. 

Every  man  is  endowed  by  the  Creator  with  the  perfect  right 
to  the  enjoyment  of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness ; 
that  is,  with  a  perfect  right  to  use  as  he  will  the  means  which 
(rod  has  placed  in  his  hands  for  the  attainment  of  his  own  hap- 
piness, provided  he  do  not  interfere  with  the  same  perfect 
and  equal  right  which  every  other  man  enjoys  in  common  with 
himself.  To  act  in  obedience  to  this  elementary  principle,  is 
to  obey  the  law  of  reciprocity ;  that  is,  to  love  our  neighbor  as 
ourselves,  in  the  sense  which  I  have  already  explained.  Were 
men  naturally  inclined  to  obey  this  precept,  they  would  need 
no  organization  to  prevent  them  from  violating  it.  It  is  ab- 
surd to  take  pains  to  prevent  men  from  doing  that  which  they 
have  no  disposition  to  do.  We  make  no  provision  for  obliging 
men  to  eat  when  they  are  hungry,  or  to  rest  when  they  are 
weary.  When  there  exists  a  natural  disposition  to  any  par 
ticular  course  of  conduct,  we  leave  it,  if  it  be  innocent,  t< 
itself,  never  attempting  to  do  what  nature  can  do  so  muc) 
better  without  us. 

But,  if  we  will  attentively  consider,  we  shall  perceive  that 
the  first,  and  by  far  most  important  object  for  which  human 
society  is  established,  is  to  prevent  the  violation  of  the  law  of 
reciprocity.  It  proceeds  upon  the  principle  that  every  man 
will,  if  he  can,  employ  for  his  own  happiness  not  only  the 
means  which  God  has  given  him,  but  also  those  which  God  ha> 
given  to  his  neighbor.  But  it  is  evident,  that,  were  this  prin 
ciple  admitted,  it  would  lead  to  universal  and  interminable  war 
until  the  race  was  exterminated.  And,  besides,  although  every 
man  is  disposed  to  infringe  the  rights  of  his  neighbor  himself, 
he  is  by  no  means  disposed  to  concede  this  power  to  another. 
The  moral  sense  acts  correctly  when  it  is  not  biased  by  self- 
ishness. Hence  men  instinctively  combine  together  for  the 


72    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  MAN. 

purpose  of  obliging  each  other  to  obey  the  law  of  reciprocity. 
If  any  one  attempt  to  infringe  the  rights  of  his  neighbor,  the 
rest  of  the  community,  with  one  voice,  command  him  to 
forbear.  They  find  that  human  society  cannot  exist  without 
employing  the  power  of  the  whole  in  favor  of  right,  and  thus 
obliging  every  individual,  by  the  authority  of  the  whole,  to 
respect  the  rights  of  his  fellows.  It  is  from  this  function  of 
society  that  all  law  emanates.  Society  confers  no  rights;  it 
only  guaranties  to  every  man  the  enjoyment  of  those  rights 
which  have  been  conferred  upon  him  by  his  Creator. 

We  see,  then,  that  the  first  conception  of  human  society  is 
that  of  an  instinctive  arrangement  for  the  purpose  of  prevent- 
ing the  violation  of  the  rule  in  the  text.  Civilization  advances, 
and  the  happiness  of  man,  both  individual  and  social,  is  pro- 
moted, just  in  the  proportion  that  this  purpose  of  society  is 
more  and  more  perfectly  accomplished.  So  soon  as  this  pur- 
pose of  society  is  abandoned,  right  is  universally  violated  with 
impunity,  and  a  nation  becomes  a  prey  to  universal  wicked- 
ness. The  power  of  society  to  repress  crime  being  withdrawn, 
anarchy  ensues  —  a  word  which  instantly  suggests  to  us  all  the 
misery  which  man  can  suffer  from  violence  and  injustice.  It 
is  the  rule  of  might  uncontrolled  by  right.  It  is  a  condition  in 
which  every  man  is  at  liberty  to  seek  his  own  gratification, 
however  small,  in  violation  of  the  rights  of  his  neighbor,  how- 
ever sacred.  A  partial  illustration  of  this  condition  of  human- 
ity was  presented  by  the  city  of  Paris  in  some  periods  of  the 
first  French  revolution.  An  illustration  yet  more  striking  was 
several  times  exhibited  during  the  Peninsular  war,  when  cities 
taken  by  assault  were  delivered  up  to  the  will  of  the  soldiery 
by  the  orders  both  of  the  French  and  British  commanders. 
An  innocent  and  unarmed  population  —  men,  women,  and 
children — were  in  these  instances  left,  without  law,  entirely  to 
the  mercy  of  their  fellow-men.  The  victors  might  do  with 
the  vanquished  precisely  as  they  chose.  The  atrocities  of 
such  a  scene,  as  I  have  been  informed  by  eye-witnesses,  are 
too  horrible  for  recital.  Men,  under  such  circumstances,  are 


MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  MAN.    73 

transformed  from  human  beings  into  demons,  and  a  city  sur- 
rendered up  to  their  lusts,  presents  a  more  vivid  picture  of 
hell  than  can  be  found  elsewhere  on  earth.  If,  then,  the 
elementary  conception  of  a  social  organization  assumes  as  a 
fact  the  selfishness  of  man ;  if  the  great  object  of  this  organiza- 
tion is  to  protect  the  individual  from  the  infringement  of  his 
rights ;  if  the  most  horrible  condition  of  humanity  of  which  we 
can  conceive  is  that  of  men  left  without  control  to  do  exactly 
as  they  choose,  and  seek  their  own  gratification  without  re- 
gard to  the  happiness  of  their  neighbors,  —  it  would  seem  that 
there  can  be  no  question  respecting  the  natural  disposition  of 
man.  Such  things  could  never  exist  among  beings  who  were 
by  nature  disposed  to  love  their  neighbor  as  themselves. 

In  the  second  place, — 

II.  The  history  of  the  various  forms  of  human  government 
illustrates  the  truth  that  man  does  not  love  his  neighbor  as 
himself. 

Suppose  a  society  to  be  organized  for  the  purpose  I  have 
specified  above,  —  it  is  necessary  that  its  power  be  confided  to 
the  hands  of  comparatively  few  individuals.  The  whole  of 
the  society  cannot  act  in  every  case  that  requires  its  inter- 
ference. The  authority  of  the  whole  must  be  delegated  to  a 
part,  who  thus  become  what  we  call  the  government  or  magis- 
tracy. The  object,  therefore,  for  which  a  magistracy  is  ap- 
pointed, is  so  to  administer  the  power  of  the  whole,  that  every 
individual  shall  be  confirmed  in  the  enjoyment  of  every  right 
bestowed  upon  him  by  his  Creator ;  that  is,  that  every  individ- 
ual shall  be  obliged  to  obey  the  law  of  reciprocity. 

Now,  I  need  scarcely  remind  you  that  the  best  talent  of  the 
human  race  has  from  the  beginning  been  employed  in  the 
attempt  to  devise  a  form  of  government  which  shall  accomplish 
this  object,  and  that  thus  far  (unless  our  republic  shall  prove 
an  exception)  the  attempt  has  signally  failed.  It  has  been 
found  practically  impossible  so  to  balance  the  various  powers 
of  the  state  that  the  individual  shall  be  free  to  do  right,  whiie 
he  is  at  the  same  time  restrained  from  doing  wrong.  It  has 
7 


74    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  MAN. 

taken  ages  of  reasoning  and  reflection,  and  it  has  cost  torrents 
of  blood,  to  ascertain,  with  any  thing  like  precision,  even  what 
are  the  limits  within  which  society  has  any  right  to  interfere 
with  the  actions  of  the  individual.  And  after  this  limit  has 
been  discovered,  how  shall  we  construct  a  government  which 
will  not  transgress  it  ?  If  we  bestow  too  much  or  too  irre- 
sponsible power  upon  rulers,  they  become  tyrants,  and  the 
government  is  overthrown  by  reason  of  its  oppression.  If 
we  bestow  upon  them  too  little  power,  violence  will  neither 
be  prevented  nor  injury  redressed,  and  the  individual,  de- 
spairing of  redress  or  of  protection  from  society,  seeks  it  for 
himself  ;  and  thus  ensues  universal  anarchy. 

Hence  it  has  happened,  I  think,  that  the  most  stable  gov- 
ernments on  earth  have  been  civil  or  spiritual  despotisms. 
When  the  rulers  form  an  intelligent  and  vigilant  caste,  and 
can  withhold  from  the  people  a  knowledge  of  their  rights ; 
or  when  a  priesthood  can  persuade  them  that  their  eternal 
salvation  depends  upon  unquestioning  obedience  to  the  man- 
dates of  a  hierarchy ;  and  specially  when  these  two  forms 
of  despotism  can  be  united,  —  that  is,  when  you  can  deprive 
men  of  the  exercise  of  reason  and  conscience,  until,  in  some 
of  the  most  important  respects,  they  cease  to  be  men,  —  then 
they  may  be  governed  in  quietness.  If  you  can  turn  men 
into  brutes,  you  may  govern  them  like  brutes.  But  restore 
them  to  their  rank,  as  the  intelligent  and  responsible  creatures 
of  God,  and  their  passions,  stimulated  by  liberty,  defy  re- 
straint, and  render  a  permanent  government  almost  impossi- 
ble. Hence  it  has  been  so  often  remarked,  that  the  civil 
institutions  of  man  have,  in  all  ages,  trodden,  with  greater  or 
less  rapidity,  the  same  invariable  circle  from  anarchy  to  des- 
potism, and  from  despotism  again  to  anarchy.  The  forms  of 
government  which  have  endured  the  longest,  have  been  those 
which  have  vibrated,  from  time  to  time,  between  these  oppo- 
site extremes.  When  this  invariable  circle  has  been  trodden 
slowly,  the  changes  have  been  less  violent,  and  mankind  have, 
at  intervals  of  peace,  been  permitted  to  enjoy  the  blessings 


MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  MAN.    75 

bestowed  upon  them  by  their  Creator.  Where,  on  the  other 
hand,  this  circle  has  been  rapidly  passed  over,  and  civil  in- 
stitutions, by  the  turbulence  of  passion,  have  been  frequently 
overturned,  the  race  of  man,  worn  out  with  the  struggle,  has 
ceased  from  the  earth  ;  and  thus  it  has  happened,  that  whole 
regions,  once  the  abode  of  wealth  and  civilization,  are  now  a 
wilderness ;  and  the  remains  of  once  populous  cities  have 
become  the  lair  of  the  lion  and  the  hiding-place  of  the  jackal. 

Or,  if  we  pass  by  the  interior  history  of  civil  societies,  the 
same  truth  is  illustrated  in  the  principles  which  have  generally 
governed  the  intercourse  of  nations  with  each  other.  Where 
is  the  nation  to  be  found  that  ever  treated  other  nations,  spe- 
cially if  they  were  weaker,  on  the  principles  of  reciprocity  ?  Do 
men  ever  even  expect  it  ?  Nay,  do  they  not  frequently  applaud 
the  successful  violation  of  right  ?  Who  has  ever  reaped  so 
abundant  a  harvest  of  human  applause  as  the  military  con- 
queror ?  What,  besides  his  incomparable  talent  for  war,  has 
crowned  with  imperishable  renown  the  name  of  the  late  em- 
peror Napoleon  ?  When  a  battle  has  been  fought,  which  has 
covered  the  earth  with  slain,  and  carried  mourning,  and  widow- 
hood, and  orphanage,  to  every  village  throughout  the  land, 
the  only  question  that  we  ask  is,  Which  of  the  armies  has 
been  victorious?  Alexander,  Caesar,  and  Napoleon,  are 
celebrated  as  the  heroes  of  our  race  ;  but  we  never  think  of 
the  millions  who  were  slaughtered  to  glut  their  lust  of  power. 
Now,  I  ask,  if  we  loved  the  rights  of  our  neighbors  as  our 
own,  could  such  things  be  done  ?  or,  if  they  were  done,  could 
they  fail  to  awaken  a  universal  sentiment  of  intense  moral 
indignation  ?  Can  we  conceive  of  a  more  atrocious  crim« 
than  that  of  butchering  our  fellow-men  for  the  sake  of  in- 
creasing our  fame  or  advancing  our  personal  interests,  or  the 
interests  of  a  political  party  ?  And  yet,  we  not  only  do  such 
things,  but  have  pleasure  in  those  that  do  them. 

It  may  be  asked,  Is  not  our  country  an  exception  to  these 
remarks  ?  In  the  formation  of  our  civil  constitution,  I  sup- 
pose that  the  law  of  reciprocity  has  been  more  thoughtfully 


76    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  MAN. 

considered  than  in  the  formation  of  any  other  that  history  has 
recorded.  The  principle  of  the  universal  equality  of  human 
rights,  with  one  lamentable  exception,  has  here  been  fully 
recognized.  But  does  any  one  believe  that  our  constitution 
can  endure,  if  it  rely  for  support  on  nothing  but  the  natural 
love  of  justice  in  the  human  bosom  ?  Thus  far,  owing  to  the 
religious  principles  in  which  we  have  been  educated,  it  has 
stood.  This,  however,  is  a  superinduced  influence ;  it  is  the 
result  of  the  .teaching  of  revelation  accompanied  by  power 
from  on  high.  But,  I  ask,  was  there  ever  before  a  people 
among  whom  such  a  government  as  ours  could  have  been 
maintained  even  for  a  single  year  ?  Nay,  abstract  from  this 
people  the  influences  diffused  abroad  by  the  religion  of  Christ, 
abolish  the  Bible,  the  Sabbath,  the  instructions  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, abandon  us  all  to  the  natural  workings  of  the  human 
heart,  and  let  any  one  ask  himself  how  long  such  a  gov- 
ernment as  ours  could  possibly  exist. 

III.  I  do  not  know  but  any  additional  proof  on  this  subject 
may  seem  superfluous.  I  am,  however,  unwilling  to  close  the 
argument  without  suggesting  another  consideration,  nearly 
allied  to  this  last,  to  which  I  have  alluded. 

Were  men  universally,  or  even  generally,  inclined  to  obey 
the  precept  in  the  text,  it  is  manifest  that  the  making  of  laws, 
and  the  carrying  them  into  execution,  would  be  the  easiest 
labor  imaginable.  Infringement  of  right,  if  it  existed  at  all, 
would  result  simply  from  imperfection  of  the  understanding, 
and  never  from  pravity  of  the  heart.  The  legislator  need 
not,  in  any  case,  do  more  than  merely  to  indicate  to  his  fellow- 
citizens  the  rule  of  right,  so  that  those  less  well  informed 
than  himself  might  not  fall  into  error.  Every  man  would  re- 
ceive with  gratitude  any  instructions  which  would  enable  him 
to  avoid  doing  wrong  to  his  neighbor.  And,  if  any  one, 
through  inadvertence,  had  infringed  the  rights  of  his  fellow,  of 
all  the  men  in  the  community,  he  would  be  the  most  anxious  to 
acknowledge  his  error,  and  make  all  the  reparation  in  his  power. 
We  should,  in  such  a  state  of  society,  stand  in  no  need  of 


MURAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  MAN.    77 

penal  enactments,  since  every  one  would,  of  his  own  choice, 
do  all  that  justice  could  prescribe.  Law  would  be  nothing 
else  than  instruction  in  our  duty,  unaccompanied  by  the  threat 
of  punishment  for  disobedience.  Sheriffs  and  constables, 
prisons,  penitentiaries,  and  executions,  would  have  been 
unheard  of  among  men.  The  just  and  disinterested  dispo- 
sition which  ruled  in  the  heart,  would  render  all  these  sad 
mementoes  of  our  depravity  utterly  without  use  and  without 
object. 

But  what  do  we  observe  to  be  actually  the  fact  ?  No  one 
is  so  childish  as  not  to  know  that  a  law  without  a  penalty 
would  be  deemed  the  greatest  of  practical  absurdities.  The 
legislator  who  should  propose  the  enactment  of  such  a  code, 
would,  by  universal  consent,  be  esteemed  insane.  And  then 
reflect  upon  the  number  of  laws  necessary  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  human  race.  In  all  civilized  countries,  a  large 
portion  of  men,  reputed  to  be  preeminent  for  intelligence,  is 
constantly  employed  in  the  labor  of  legislation ;  that  is,  in 
framing  enactments  whose  object  it  is  to  prevent  man  from 
doing  injury  to  his  neighbor.  It  is,  moreover,  found  that  the 
greatest  practical  skill  is  required  in  order  to  construct  a  law 
so  that  it  shall  not  be  rendered  inoperative  by  evasion.  Even 
such  skill  can  but  imperfectly,  and  for  a  short  period,  resist 
the  pressure  of  human  selfishness.  The  most  perfect  rule 
that  man  could  devise  for  to-day,  would,  in  a  few  years,  need 
addition,  alteration,  or  amendment,  in  order  to  protect  the 
innocent  from  modes  of  injury  which,  at  the  beginning,  would 
never  have  been  dreamed  of.  Hence,  in  every  country  which 
has  made  any  considerable  progress  in  civilization,  laws,  and 
commentaries  upon  them,  form,  of  themselves,  libraries  of 
appalling  magnitude.  The  laws,  for  instance,  of  Great 
Britain  constitute,  of  themselves,  the  study  of  a  lifetime. 
And  yet,  even  these  are  insufficient  to  prevent  an  extent  of 
crime  which  we  cannot  look  upon  without  dismay.  These 
laws  are  enforced  by  the  severest  punishments ;  and  yet 
prisons  and  penitentiaries  are  crowded,  transport  ships  are 
7* 


78    MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  MAN. 

loaded,  the  gallows  groans  under  its  sad  burden ;  yet  crime 
increases,  though  not  one  out  of  ten  who  deserve  it,  ever  comes 
within  the  reach  of  the  officer  of  justice. 

In  addition  to  this,  consider  the  talent  that  is  daily  employed 
in  the  administration  of  the  law.  Judges,  jurors,  counsellors, 
and  executive  officers,  are  laboring  incessantly  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land.  They  toil  on  without  inter- 
mission ;  but  the  burden,  like  the  stone  of  Sisyphus,  returns 
upon  them,  year  after  year,  with  redoubled  weight.  The  phi- 
lanthropist and  the  Christian  aid  the  efforts  of  the  legislator  by 
all  the  eloquence  of  love.  Education  is  scattered  broadcast 
among  the  people.  The  pulpit  and  the  Sabbath  school  unite 
their  energies  in  the  attempt  to  prevent  crime  and  reform  the 
criminal ;  but  the  work  of  violence  and  dishonesty  still  goes 
forward.  We  seem  surrounded  by  a  pestilential  moral  atmos- 
phere, which  cannot  be  excluded,  unless  life  itself  be  ex- 
tinguished. At  last,  every  one  but  the  disciple  of  Christ,  gives 
up,  in  despair,  the  effort  to  reform  the  race ;  and  it  is  acknowl- 
edged that  unless  the  moral  nature  of  man  can  be  changed  by 
power  from  on  high,  the  all-grasping  selfishness  of  the  human 
heart  can  never  be  reduced  to  obedience,  to  reason,  and  to 
conscience. 

Such  being  the  acknowledged  facts,  I  think  there  can  no 
longer  remain  any  doubt  on  this  subject.  The  conclusion  is 
pressed  upon  us  on  every  side,  that  mankind  is  guilty  of  the 
violation  of  the  second  precept  of  the  law  as  truly  as  of  viola- 
tion of  the  first.  Such  are  the  truths  revealed  by  our  moral  his- 
tory. They  belong  to  that  class  of  general  facts  which  need  not 
be  established  by  argument,  but  which  meet  us  at  once  as  soon 
as  we  open  our  eyes  upon  the  condition  of  the  world  around  us. 

It  would  seem,  then,  from  a  review  of  the  facts  which  we 
have  endeavored  to  establish,  that,  in  the  words  of  the  apostle, 
all  men  have  sinned,  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God.  In- 
stead of  loving  God  with  all  his  heart,  the  love  of  God  is  not 
in  man  ;  and,  more  than  this,  he  is  cherishing  those  moral  hab- 
its which  must  issue  in  direct,  and  intense,  and  endless  enmity 


MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  MAN.   LOVE  TO  MAN.    79 

to  his  Maker.  Instead  of  loving  his  neighbor  as  himself,  his 
love  to  his  neighbor  easily  yields  to  the  demands  of  selfishness 
or  passion ;  and  the  result  has  been,  that,  from  the  beginning, 
notwithstanding  all  the  monitions  of  conscience,  and  all  the 
restraints  of  society,  the  earth  has  been  filled  with  violence. 
Mankind  must,  therefore,  plead  guilty  to  the  charge  of  dis- 
obedience to  both  of  the  great  commandments  of  reason  and 
revelation. 

Suppose  all  this  to  be  so,  and  men  to  enter  the  unseen 
world  with  this  very  moral  character  unchangeably  rivetted 
upon  them  for  eternity.  They  would  find  themselves  at  en- 
mity forever  with  infinite  holiness  and  goodness,  sustained  by 
almighty  power  and  guided  by  omniscient  wisdom.  This  in 
itself  would  create  despair,  rendered  more  agonizing  by  the 
reproaches  of  conscience  —  that  worm  that  dieth  not,  that  fire 
that  cannot  be  quenched.  Nor  is  this  all.  They  have  delib- 
erately refused  to  submit  to  the  law  of  God,  and  God  with- 
draws and  leaves  them  to  a  state  in  which  there  is  no  law. 
They  preferred  the  government  of  their  passions,  and  God 
surrenders  them  to  the  rule  which  they  have  preferred.  Sup- 
pose then,  that,  intelligent  creatures,  knowing  no  law  but  passion, 
and  each  one  seeking  his  own  gratification,  at  the  expense  of 
the  happiness  of  all  the  rest,  to  be  separated  from  the  other 
moral  creatures  of  God,  and  left  to  the  indulgence  of  uncon- 
trolled desire.  The  result  must  be  enmity  growing  more  and 
more  intense  and  terrific,  and  this  must  be  forever. 

Such  is  our  condition  by  nature,  and  such  the  destiny  for 
which,  if  divine  grace  prevent  not,  we  are  preparing.  The 
wages  of  sin,  that  which  it  deserves,  and  to  which  it  by  neces- 
sity tends,  is  death.  The  gift  of  God,  that  which  proceeds 
from  his  boundless  and  unmerited  love,  is  eternal  life,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 


THE   FALL    OF   MAN. 


"  BY  ONE  MAN'S  DISOBEDIENCE  MANY  WERE  MADE  SINNERS." 

Romans  v.  19. 

I  HAVE,  in  previous  discourses,  attempted  to  place  before 
you  the  scriptural,  account  of  the  moral  character  of  man. 
The  question  here  naturally  arises,  How  could  a  race  of 
sinners  have  been  created  by  a  holy  and  most  merciful  God  ? 
The  answer  to  this  question  is  contained,  in  part,  in  the  words 
of  the  text.  By  one  man's  disobedience  many,  or  "  the  many," 
became  sinners.  That  is,  the  Scriptures  teach  us  that  the 
race  of  man  was  created  upright,  that  our  first  parents  sinned, 
and  that,  in  consequence  of  that  sin,  their  descendants  are 
found  to  be  universally  depraved.  My  object,  in  the  present 
discourse,  is  simply  to  present  the  statement  of  the  Scriptures 
on  this  subject,  and  to  consider  some  of  the  objections  that  have 
been  urged  against  it. 

1.  The  Bible  asserts  that  God  created  our  first  parents  per- 
fect. "  God  created  man  in  his  own  image ;  in  the  image  of 
God  created  he  him.  And  God  saw  every  thing  that  he  had 
made,  and  behold  it  was  very  good."  By  this  1  understand 
that  God  created  man  with  a  perfect  moral  nature,  such  that 
every  impulse  and  affection  was  in  harmony  with  the  relations 
in  which  he  was  placed.  But  man  was  endowed  with  the 
gift  of  free  agency.  He  had  the  same  power  to  disobey  the 
law  of  God  as  to  obey  it.  Without  such  power  he  could  have 
been  neither  virtuous  nor  vicious.  The  consequences  of  obedi- 


THE    FALL    OF    MAN.  81 

ence  and  disobedience  were  placed  before  him,  and  thus  his 
destiny  was  left  in  his  own  hands. 

2.  It  pleased  God,  at  an  early  period  in  the  history  of  man, 
to  place  before  him  a  trial  of  his  obedience.     "  And  the  Lord 
God  commanded  man,  saying,  Of  every  tree  of  the  garden  thou 
mayest  freely  eat ;  but  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil  thou  shall  not  eat  of  it,  for  in  the  day  that  thou  eatest 
thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die."     Whether  this   narrative   be 
understood  literally  or  figuratively,  its  lesson  is  precisely  the 
same.     It  teaches  the  all-important  truth,  that  there  is  a  moral 
limit  affixed  to  the  gratification  of  human  desires ;  that  under 
our  present  constitution,  we  have  the  power  to  enjoy  objects 
which  God   has   forbidden,  and   to   pursue   the   gratifications 
which  he  has  allowed, beyond  the  limit  which  he  has  assigned; 
and  that  the  perfect  subjection  of  all  our  desires  to  the  holy 
will  of  God  is  made  the  test  of  our  moral  character,  and  the 
universal  means  of  our  improvement  in  virtue.     This  is  my 
interpretation  of  this   history.     I   look  simply  at  the   moral 
lesson  which  it  teaches.     The  drapery  with  which  it  is  clothed 
is  a  matter  of  inferior  consequence. 

3.  The  Scriptures  proceed  to  inform  us,  that  our  first  parents 
were  tempted  by  Satan  to  disobey  the  plain  commands  of  God. 
"  The  woman  said  unto  the  serpent,  We  may  eat  of  the  fruit 
of  the  trees  of  the  garden,  but  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  which  is 
in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  God  hath  said,  Ye  shall  not  eat  of 
it,   neither  shall  ye  touch  it,  lest  ye  die.      And  the  serpent 
said  unto  the  woman,  Ye  shall  not  surely  die ;  for  God  doth 
know,  that  hi  the  day  ye  eat  thereof,   then  your  eyes  'shall 
be  opened,  and  ye  shall  be  as  gods,  knowing  both  good  and 
evil.     And  when  the  woman  saw  that  the  tree  was  good  for 
food,  and  that  it  was  pleasant  to  the  eyes,  and  a  tree  to  be 
desired  to  make  one  wise,  she  took  of  the  fruit  thereof,  and 
did  eat,  and  gave  also  to  her  husband,  and  he  did  eat." 

How  other  men  may  look  upon  this  narrative,  I  know  not. 
To  me  it  presents  a  perfect  analysis  of  every  act  of  sin  against 
God.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  a  conviction,  more  or  less 


03  THE    FALL    OF    MAN. 

distinct,  that  the  act  is  a  violation  of  the  known  will  of 
God.  Then  there  is  a  dallying  with  temptation,  and  a  contem- 
plation of  the  pleasure  which  we  may  enjoy  by  sin.  This  is 
succeeded  by  obtuseness  of  conscience  and  the  hope  that  the 
desire  may  be  indulged,  and  yet  the  consequences  which  God 
has  threatened  be  averted.  Then  follows  an  intenser  desire 
for  pleasure,  the  power  of  passion  waxes  stronger,  and  the 
power  of  conscience  waxes  weaker.  At  length,  the  balance 
between  these  opposing  forces  is  destroyed,  the  will  consents, 
the  act  is  done,  the  sin  is  committed.  I  do  not  know  that  the 
literature  of  our  race  presents  a  more  accurate  account  of  the 
process  of  wilful  transgression  than  is  here  recorded  in  the 
first  pages  of  our  history.  They  speak  a  language  that  finds  a 
response  in  every  human  bosom. 

"*4.  This  one  act  changes  at  once  the  moral  condition  of  the 
creature.  It  is  not  merely  a  sin,  —  it  is  a  fall,  a  fall  into  a 
fathomless  abyss.  It  is  a  victory  of  the  passions  over  the  con- 
science, a  defeat  that  can  never  be  retrieved.  It  is  a  declara- 
tion of  rebellion  against  God,  a  deliberate  preference  of  the 
pleasures  of  sense  to  the  favor  of  our  Father  who  is  in  heaven. 
With  the  change  of  the  object  of  his  supreme  affection,  the 
man  himself  is  radically  changed.  God,  who  is  unchangeably 
opposed  to  this  new  choice  of  the  creature,  ceases  to  be  lovely 
and  adorable  in  his  eyes.  Henceforth,  he  becomes  an  object 
of  suspicion  and  dread.  Adam  and  his  wife  hid  themselves 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  among  the  trees  of  the  garden, 
just  as  their  children  ever  since  have  endeavored  to  hide  them- 
selves from  the  gaze  of  omniscience.  Instead  of  confessing 
their  sin,  they  strove  to  impute  their  guilt  to  each  other. 
Henceforth  all  their  character  becomes  tinged  with  moral 
corruption. 

5.  After  this,  the  Scripture's  always  speak  of  the  race  of 
man  as  corrupt  and  sinful.  The  first-born  of  our  common 
parents  was  the  murderer  of  his  brother.  Soon  "  God  saw  that 
the  wickedness  of  man  was  great  upon  the  earth,  and  that 
every  imagination  of  the  thought  of  his  heart  was  wholly  evil 


THE    PALL    OF    MAN.  83 

continually."  Throughout  the  volume  of  inspiration  man  is 
every  where  spoken  of  as  morally  depraved,  a  sinner  against 
God,  and,  in  consequence  of  this  sin,  under  the  condemnation 
of  his  most  holy  law. 

But  the  Scriptures  go  farther.  Unless  I  wholly  mistake  their 
meaning,  they  assert  that  there  is  a  definite  connection  between 
this  sin  and  the  consequent  sinful  character  of  our  first  parents, 
and  the  sinful  character  of  their  posterity.  By  one  man's 
disobedience,  the  many  were  made  sinners.  "  By  one  man,  sin 
entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin,  and  so  death  passed 
upon  all  men,  in  that  all  have  sinned."  The  Bible,  however, 
does  not  assert  that  we  committed  Adam's  sin,  or  that  we  are 
guilty  of  Adam's  sin,  or  that  we  shall  be  punished  for  it,  or 
that  we  had  any  part  or  participation  in  it.  It,  on  the  con- 
trary, declares  that  every  man  shall  be  judged  for  what  he  has 
himself  done.  Every  man  shall  give  an  account  o'f  himself 
to  God.  But  the  Bible  does,  nevertheless,  inform  us  that  such 
a  connection  exists  between  us  and  our  first  parents  ;  that  we 
become  sinners  in  consequence  of  their  transgression.  Of  the 
manner  of  this  connection,  it  gives  us  but  little  information ;  yet 
some  important  light  may  possibly  be  discovered  if  we  dili- 
gently reflect  upon  the  truth  which  has  been  revealed  to  us. 

Such  is  a  brief  statement  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Scriptures 
on  this  subject.  Are  they  in  any  respect  at  variance  with 
right  reason  ?  Is  there  in  them  a  single  assertion  repugnant  to 
the  human  intelligence  and  conscience  ?  To  these  questions 
let  us  now  direct  our  attention. 

The  substance  of  the  Scripture  statements  may  be,  I  think, 
expressed  briefly  as  follows  :  — 

I.  Our  first  parents  were  created  free  agents,  that  is,  moral 
intelligences. 

II.  They  were  placed  under  circumstances  in  which  their 
virtue  was  subjected  to  trial. 

III.  By  the  constitution  under  which  our  race  was  created, 
the  conditions  of  our  probation  were  so  interwoven  with  theirs, 
that,  if  they  became  sinful,  we  should  become  sinful  also. 


84  THE    FALL    OF    MAN. 

Let  us  briefly  consider  each  of  these  statements,  for  the 
purpose  of  inquiring  whether  in  either  or  all  of  them  there  is 
any  thing  revolting  to  an  enlightened  conscience,  or  at  variance 
with  the  moral  attributes  of  God. 

1.  Can  any  objection  be  urged  against  the  truth  that  our  first 
parents,  and  all  the  race  of  man,  have  been  created  free  agents, 
that  is,  moral  and  accountable  beings  ? 

I  might  here  observe,  that  the  doctrine  of  man's  free 
agency  is  not  a  doctrine  of  revealed  religion,  or,  in  fact,  of 
religion  at  all.  It  is  the  simple  dictate  of  the  human  con- 
sciousness. To  object  to  it  is  just  the  same  absurdity  as  to 
complain  because  God  has  given  us  hands  or  feet,  a  heart  or  a 
brain,  or  a  reasoning  soul ;  it  is,  in  fact,  to  revile  the  great 
Giver  on  account  of  his  gifts. 

But,  farther :  a  moral  agent  differs  from  a  brute  mainly  in 
this  —  that  he  is  capable  of  distinguishing  right  from  wrong, 
and  of  choosing  freely  between  them  ;  that  he  is  capable  of 
deserving  moral  praise  and  blame,  and  is  held  responsible  for 
his  actions  before  the  tribunal  of  a  righteous  and  all-seeing 
Judge.  Brutes  are  endowed  with  none  of  these  powers,  and 
are  charged  with  none  of  this  responsibleness. 

Now,  can  any  one  impugn  either  the  justice  or  the  goodness 
of  God,  because  we,  and  all  the  orders  of  higher  intelligences, 
were  not  created  brutes  ?  Would  it  have  been  more  consistent 
with  the  perfections  of  the  Holy  One  to  fill  creation  with  beings 
unable  either  to  admire  or  adore  his  goodness,  who  could  nei- 
ther love  him  or  be  loved  by  him,  who  were,  by  the  necessity  of 
their  existence,  incapable  of  virtue  —  sensual,  irrational,  brutish 
Or  would  it  be  good  or  wise  for  the  Deity  at  this  moment  to 
withdraw  from  all  created  intelligences  the  gift  of  moral 
agency,  arid  transform  men  and  angels,  cherubim  and  sera- 
phim, into  brutes  that  perish  ?  Should  we  desire  that  ourselves 
or  our  friends  should  become  oxen  of  the  stall  or  swine  of  the 
sty  ?  We  cannot,  then,  make  any  objection  to  the  goodness 
of  God  because  he  has  created  us  and  other  of  our  fellow- 
creatures  moral  agents. 


THE   FALL    OF    MAN.  85 

But,  in  this  very  idea  of  moral  agency,  there  is  involved,  as 
we  have  already  intimated,  the  power  of  choice,  the  absolute 
freedom  of  the  will.  When  the  good  and  evil  are  set  before 
us,  we  must  be  left  entirely  free  to  choose  and  to  refuse,  or 
there  could  be  no  moral  desert,  and  we  could  not  justly  be  the 
subjects  either  of  reward  or  of  punishment.  To  the  truth  of 
this  every  man's  consciousness  bears  witness.  We  do  not  feel 
deserving  of  either  praise  or  blame  for  the  pulsations  of  the 
heart  or  the  heaving  of  the  lungs,  or  for  being  either  hungry  or 
thirsty,  but  only  for  those  acts  which  we  know  to  be'  dependent 
on  our  own  volitions.  As  soon  as  an  act  is  placed  beyond  our 
own  control,  we  disclaim  all  responsiblity  both  for  it  and  its 
results. 

Again  :  I  think  that  our  notion  of  moral  agency  involves  the 
additional  idea  that  there  are  certain  limits  established  beyond 
which  the  Deity  does  not  interfere  with  the  actions  of  his 
creatures.  If  he  have  conferred  upon  him  the  power  of  free 
choice,  he  does  not  interfere  with  that  power,  nor  retract  the 
gift  which  he  has  bestowed.  He  places  before  men  motives, 
and  leaves  them  free  to  act,  in  view  of  them,  as  they  will. 
Having  created  a  man  or  an  angel,  he  ever  treats  him  as  a 
man  or  an  angel,  and  neither  as  a  brute  nor  a  stone.  Hence, 
if  God  have  created  man  free,  and  fixed  the  just  limits  beyond 
which  he  will  not  interfere  with  his  actions,  the  Deity  is  not 
responsible  for  the  result.  An  invaluable  source  of  happiness 
is  placed  in  the  power  of  the  creature,  and  he  is  at  liberty  to 
use  or  to  abuse  it.  Let  him  do  either,  the  character  of  the 
Most  High  is  unsullied.* 

Is  it  said  that  thus  far  the  exercise  of  this  power  has  been 
productive  of  misery,  rather  than  happiness,  inasmuch  as  our 
whole  race  has  abused  it  ?  I  answer,  this  world  occupies  an 

*  I  do  not  here  bring  into  view  the  doctrine  of  the  agency  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  This  is  a  free  gift,  the  result  of  the  mediation  of  Christ, 
to  which  we  could  lay  no  claim,  and  which,  under  a  system  of  law, 
has  no  place.  Besides,  even  this  agency  is  exerted  in  perfect  har- 
mony with  the  free  agency  of  man. 
8 


86  THE    FALL    OF    MAN. 

almost  infinitely  small  space  in  the  whole  universe  of  God 
It  may  be  that  this  is  the  only  spot,  in  the  whole  creation,  in 
which  this  constitution  has  produced  any  thing  but  happiness. 
Incomparably  the  greatest  portion  of  the  creation  we  believe 
to  be  holy  and  happy  ;  and  wherever  there  are  holiness  and 
happiness,  they  are  the  result  of  this  very  gift  of  moral  agen- 
cy. It  is  this  which  has  filled  heaven  with  myriads  of  spirits, 
who  have  passed  through  their  probation  without  sin,  and  are 
now  rejoicing  before  the  throne,  clothed  in  a  holiness  that 
cannot  be  sullied.  Let  us,  then,  learn  to  look  upon  the  ways 
of  God  with  humility ';  and,  least  of  all,  let  us  speak  lightly 
of  that  endowment  by  which  we  become  specially  allied  to 
the  divine  nature. 

2.  If,  then,  it  was  just  and  merciful  in  God  to  create  a 
race  of  moral  intelligences,  was  there  any  thing  at  variance 
with  his  perfections  in  the  circumstances  in  which  our  first 
parents  were  placed  ? 

They  were  created  innocent,  in  the  image  of  God. 

They  were  endowed  with  moral  powers  capable  of  appre- 
ciating their  obligations  to  the  Creator,  and  an  intellect  by 
which  they  became  aware  of  the  consequences  of  their 
actions.  All  the  conditions  which  were  necessary  to  influ- 
ence their  decision,  were  within  the  sphere  of  their  vision, 
and  they  were  endowed  with  the  unrestrained  liberty  of 
choice. 

The  trial  to  which  they  were  subjected  was  by  no  means 
unreasonable  for  beings  thus  endowed.  The  preponderance 
of  motives  was  such  as  might  naturally  be  expected  to  lead 
them  to  choose  the  path  to  virtue  and  happiness.  The  word 
of  the  tempter  was  set  against  the  word  of  the  Creator.  A 
momentary  sensual  gratification  was  opposed  to  the  displeas- 
ure of  the  eternal  Father.  The  finite  was  put  in  comparison 
with  the  infinite.  It  was  under  such  circumstances  that  man 
was  required  to  hold  fast  his  integrity  during  the  brief  period 
of  his  probation,  with  the  promise,  if  he  were  found  faithful, 
of  immortal  felicity.  More  favorable  conditions  of  probation 


THE    FALL    OF    MAN.  87 

can  scarcely  be  conceived.  If  there  must  be  a  moral  trial, 
it  could  not  take  place  under  more  favorable  auspices. 

Still,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  result  is  left  depend- 
ent upon  man's  free  will.  After  all,  he  is,  and  from  the 
necessity  of  his  nature  he  must  be,  liable  to  sin.  He  may  act 
in  opposition  to  every  noble  and  generous  motive,  and  yield 
himself  up  to  the  seductions  of  sense.  Unless  there  existed 
this  liability,  he  would  be  as  incapable  of  virtue  as  of  vice. 

Do  you  ask  me  how  a  being  so  constituted  and  so  con- 
ditioned could  ever  sin  ?  This  question  can  be  answered  in 
no  other  manner  than  by  an  appeal  to  the  observation  and 
consciousness  of  every  man.  Why  is  it  that  we  see  such 
things  done  every  day  ?  And  why  is  it  that  every  thoughtful 
man  feels  himself  liable  continually  to  just  such  moral 
disasters  ?  Why  is  it  that  men,  by  a  single  vicious  indulgence, 
or  the  gratification  of  a  single  unholy  desire,  cover  them- 
selves with  infamy  ?  Why  is  it  that  men,  perfectly  convinced 
of  the  truth  of  the  gospel,  reject  the  offer  of  salvation,  and 
prefer  those  very  sensual  pleasures  which  they  confess  are 
empty,  vain,  and  absolutely  despicable  ?  Can  any  man  tell 
us  why  such  things  should  be  ?  And  yet,  every  one  knows 
them  to  be  matters  of  daily  occurrence. 

If,  then,  any  one  will  calmly  consider  these  facts,  I  think 
that  he  will  be  persuaded  that  the  conditions  of  probation, 
under  which  our  first  parents  were  placed,  were  eminently 
favorable.  In  all  this  there  seems  nothing  at  variance  with 
the  perfections  of  God. 

3.  But  an  important  question  yet  remains  to  be  considered. 
The  Scriptures  teach  us  that  the  conditions  of  our  probation 
were  affected  by  the  conduct  of  our  first  parents.  "  By  one 
man's  disobedience,  many  were  made  sinners."  It  is  said  that 
such  a  constitution  is  inconsistent  with  the  justice  of  God. 

Suffer  me  here  to  repeat  what  I  have  before  asserted.  The 
Scriptures  never  assert  that  we  are  guilty  of  the  sin  of  Adam, 
or  that  we  are  punished  for  it.  They  every  where  declare 
that  every  man  is  guilty  simply  of  his  own  voluntary  trans- 


88  THE    FALL    OF    MAN. 

gressions  of  the  law,  and  that  the  guilt  of  every  man  is  to  be 
estimated  by  the  degree  of  moral  light  which  he  has  volun- 
tarily resisted.  Every  man  is  thus  held  responsible  for  just 
so  much  moral  illumination  as  he  has  enjoyed,  and  no  more. 
Nothing,  surely,  can  be  more  equitable  than  this. 

What,  then,  is  it  that  the  Scriptures  assert  respecting  the 
connection  between  us  and  our  first  parents?  'To  me  it 
seems  to  be  simply  this  :  If  they  had  kept  the  law  of  God 
perfectly,  their  children  would  have  passed  through  their  pro- 
bation under  more  favorable  circumstances  than  themselves  ; 
and  thus,  through  successive  generations, -the  conditions  of 
man's  probation  would  have  become  more  and  more  favorable. 
If  they  disobeyed  God,  the  conditions  of  the  probation  of 
their  children  would  be  less  favorable  than  their  own  ;  and  it 
would,  through  successive  generations,  become  less  and  less 
favorable.  In  the  one  case,  there  would  be  created  a  ten- 
dency to  holiness,  and  in  the  other,  a  tendency  to  sin,  each 
growing  stronger  as  long  as  the  succession  continued.  In 
both  cases,  however,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  moral 
character  of  each  individual  is  subject  to  the  power  of  his 
own  free  will.* 

Now,  I  think  it  obvious  that  there  is  no  practical  injustice 
in  such  a  constitution  as  this.  It  is  manifestly  the  fact  that 
our  subsequent  condition  depends  upon  our  present  acts.  He 
who  does  a  conspicuously  good  or  evil  act,  feels  its  conse- 
quences ever  afterwards.  If,  then,  our  good  or  evil  condition 
is  made  to  depend  upon  the  act  of  another,  and  if  the  cir- 
cumstances, in  which  the  trial  was  made,  were  decidedly  in 
his  favor,  as  well  as  ours,  there  seems  no  practical  injustice 
in  making  the  trial  in  his  person  instead  of  our  own.  We 

*  I  wish  it  to  be  remembered,  that  I  here  speak  of  this  tendency 
as  a  fact,  without  discussing  the  manner  in  which  it  is  produced. 
On  this  subject,  various  opinions  have  been  held  by  theologians, 
some  believing  in  a  physical  change ;  others,  in  a  spiritual  bias  ;  others, 
again,  in  the  power  of  external  circumstances.  Into  this  controversy 
it  did  not  suit  my  purpose,  in  this  place,  to  enter. 


THE    FALL    OF    MAN.  89 

should  have  realized  the  benefit  if  he  had  acted  worthily,  as 
we  suffer  the  injury  from  his  acting  unworthily. 

But  the  question  still  returns,  Why  was  such  a  constitution 
established  ?  Why  were  moral  agents  so  connected  in  des- 
tiny with  those  who  have  gone  before  them  ?  or,  in  other 
words,  Why  is  our  probation  rendered  either  more  or  less 
favorable  in  consequence  of  actions  in  which  we  had  no 
agency  ? 

I  answer,  This  is  a  universal  principle  of  the  divine  gov- 
ernment, and  we  never  object  to  it  except  in  this  particular 
instance. 

Who  of  us  is  ignorant  of  the  fact,  that  the  conditions  of 
his  probation  have  been  influenced  most  materially  by  the 
character  of  his  parents  ?  Their  virtue,  their  self-denial, 
their  example,  has  given  you  a  position  which,  under  oppo- 
site circumstances,  you  never  could  have  held.  Had  your 
parents  been  dishonest,  intemperate,  degraded,  would  not 
your  condition  have  been  far  less  favorable  than  it  is  ?  I  do 
not  say  that  in  either  case  your  destiny  would  have  been 
taken  out  of  your  own  hands ;  I  only  say  that  the  circum- 
stances which  I  have  mentioned,  would  have  rendered  the 
conditions  of  your  probation  either  more  or  less  favorable. 
But  what  had  you  to  do  with  their  character  or  actions  ? 
Manifestly  no  more  than  you  had  with  the  character  or 
actions  of  Adam. 

Again :  let  any  man  cast  his  eyes  over  our  beloved  country. 
Let  him  survey  its  fields  loaded  with  harvests,  its  villages 
resounding  with  the  hum  of  industry,  its  harbors  crowded  with 
shipping,  and  its  cities  becoming  the  markets  of  the  world,  and 
every  where  the  rights  of  person  and  property  protected  by 
equal  laws,  and  still  more  by  a  moral  sentiment  which  has 
become  a  part  of  our  social  nature.  Let  him  enter  the  family, 
and  observe  how  closely  virtue  clings  to  the  domestic  hearth, 
and  how  strongly  filial  and  parental  affection  bind  together 
the  members  of  the  same  household.  Let  him  enter  our 
schools,  academies,  and  colleges,  and  take  notice  that  the  door 
8* 


90  THE    FALL    OF    MAN. 

is  thrown  wide  open  to  intellectual  improvement,  and  that  fa- 
cilities in  abundance  are  every  where  afforded  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  meritorious  talent.  Let  him  frequent  the  house  of  God, 
and  observe  in  what  manner,  throughout  our  land,  every  man 
is  engaged  in  the  worship  of  his  Creator  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  his  own  conscience ;  that  the  Bible  is  found  in  every 
house,  and  that  the  Sabbath  school  and  the  Bible  class  are 
instilling  its  blessed  truth  into  minds  of  those  of  every  age  and 
of  every  condition.  Having  observed  all  this,  let  us  ask  why 
is  it  that  our  probation  has  been  granted  to  us  under  circum- 
stances so  favorable  to  moral  improvement,  and  from  the  mil- 
lions of  New  England  there  will  arise  but  one  answer,  —  we 
owe  it  all  to  the  piety,  the  intelligence,  the  earnest  faith,  and 
the  self-denying  energy,  of  our  Puritan  forefathers.  But  what 
had  you  or  I  to  do  with  the  character  or  actions  of  the  Puri- 
tans ?  Nothing.  Yet  it  is  owing  to  that  character  and  those 
actions  that  our  probation  is  passed  under  circumstances  so 
eminently  favorable. 

The  illustrations  of  this  principle  are  innumerable,  for  its 
application  is  universal.  Our  probation  has  been  materially 
affected  by  the  printing  press.  But  what  had  we  to  do  with  the 
invention  of  the  printing  press  ?  The  present  age  derives 
.innumerable  blessings  from  the  invention  of  the  mariner's 
compass.  But  who  of  us  had  any  agency  in  the  invention  of 
the  mariner's  compass  ?  We  all  enjoy  the  advantages  result- 
ing from  the  invention  of  the  steam-engine.  But  what  agency 
had  any  one  living  in  the  labors  of  the  marquis  of  Worcester, 
of  Watt,  or  of  Fulton  ?  In  fact,  the  conditions  of  our  proba- 
tion, in  instances  that  defy  enumeration,  are  materially  af- 
fected by  the  acts  of  those  who  have  preceded  us,  while  with 
these  acts  we  have  no  more  connection  than  with  that  act  of 
our  first  parents  by  which  we  became  sinners. 

Such,  then,  is  the  law  of  our  constitution.  It  is  manifestly  a 
merciful  law.  On  it  alone  depends  our  capability  of  social 
progress.  Abolish  it,  and  every  generation  of  men,  without 
advancing  a  single  step,  would  stand  immovably  fixed  in  the 


THE    PALL    Off    MAN.  91 

footprints  of  that  which  preceded  it.  Advancement  in  the  arts 
and  sciences,  in  wealth,  power,  and  civilization,  would  be 
impossible.  All  our  relations  both  with  the  past  and  the  future 
would  cease.  History  would  become  an  unmeaning  word. 
Society  would  be  dissolved,  and  every  human  being  become 
an  isolated  and  solitary  unit.  Let  it  once  be  granted  that  no 
man's  condition  shall  be  affected  by  the  actions  of  any  other 
being,  and  the  whole  constitution  under  which  we  exist  must 
be  abolished ;  and  in  what  manner  a  better  one  could  be 
established  the  objector  himself  must  inform  us. 

Such,  at  all  events,  is  the  law  under  which  we  are  created. 
It  seems  to  me  a  good  and  merciful  law,  absolutely  necessary 
to  our  social  and  individual  well-being.  But  you  will  observe 
that  the  conditions  under  which  we  were  made  sinners  are 
only  a  particular  instance  under  this  general  law.  If,  then, 
the  law  be  wise,  and  good,  and  merciful,  absolutely  necessary 
to  our  well-being,  why  should  we  object  to  it  in  this  particular 
instance  ? 

Here,  however,  let  me  recur  again  to  the  distinction  which 
I  would  ever  bear  in  mind.  We  are  not  either  virtuous  01 
happy  simply  because  those  who  went  before  us  were  so. 
We  are  not  either  ignorant,  vicious,  or  miserable,  simply  in 
consequence  of  the  character  of  our  ancestors.  The  law  of 
which  I  speak  simply  asserts  that  our  condition  for  becoming 
either  the  one  or  the  other  is  more  or  less  favorable  in  conse- 
quence of  the  acts  and  character  of  those  who  have  preceded 
us.  Every  individual  is  still  free  to  resist  or  conform  to  the 
tendencies  by  which  he  is  surrounded.  Our  free  agency  is  in 
neither  case  either  destroyed  or  even  affected.  The  New 
Englander  is  just  as  free  to  choose  as  the  Hottentot.  The 
descendant  of  the  Puritans  may  resist  all  the  influences  that 
would  train  him  to  virtue,  and  become  preeminently  vile,  while 
an  example  of  virtue  that  shall  attract  the  admiration  of  the 
world,  may  be  produced  on  the  banks  of  the  Amazon,  in  the 
deserts  of  South  Africa,  or  among  the  islands  of  the  Pacific. 
The  conditions  of  our  probation  alone  are  affected  by  this  law ; 


92  THE    FALL    OF    MAN. 

our  own  character  remains  by  necessity  dependent  upon  our 
own  free  will. 

Such,  then,  as  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  explanation  which  the 
Bible  offers  of  the  acknowledged  fact  of  man's  universal  sin- 
fulness.  It  teaches  us  that  God  created  man  innocent.  He, 
however,  created  him  a  moral  agent,  and  placed  him  on  earth 
to  form  a  character  for  eternity  under  circumstances  as  favor- 
able as  could  be  conceived  for  attaining  to  everlasting  life  by 
his  own  obedience ;  and  he  established  a  constitution  by  which 
the  conditions  of  the  probation  of  those  who  should  succeed 
should  be  rendered  either  more  or  less  favorable  by  the  acts 
and  character  of  those  who  preceded  them.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances our  first  parents  sinned ;  and  the  conditions  of  our 
probation  are  rendered  less  favorable  than  theirs  at  the  begin- 
ning ;  less  favorable,  indeed,  to  such  a  degree,  that  every  one 
of  us,  as  soon  as  he  becomes  capable  of  moral  action,  becomes 
a  sinner. 

It  may,  however,  be  asked,  Why  did  not  the  Deity,  by  some 
merciful  agency,  so  influence  man  that  his  fall  might  have 
been  prevented  ?  To  this  I  know  not  that  any  answer  can  be 
returned.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  we  shall  be  able  to 
fathom  the  depths  of  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  the  Eternal. 
It  may  be  that  this  could  not  have  been  done  without  infringing 
upon  the  limits  of  the  free  agency  with  which  he  has  endowed 
us.  It  evidently  did  not  originate  in  any  want  of  love  to  man. 
The  same  page  that  records  the  history  of  our  fall  and  the 
sentence  of  our  condemnation,  reveals  to  us  the  wonderful  fact 
that  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life."  "  He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but 
delivered  him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  freely 
give  us  all  things?"  Here,  surely,  a  ^devout  mind  may  rest 
satisfied.  ' 

What,  then,  in  conclusion,  are  the  practical  reflections  that 
this  discussion  should  bring  home  to  the  bosom  of  eveiy 
individual  ? 


THE    FALL    OF    MAN.  93 

1.  While  I  have  been  speaking  of  the  probation  of  Adam, 
has  it  not  occurred  to  every  one  of  you  that  his  condition  and 
ours  are  similar  in  more  respects  than  we  had  at  first  supposed  ? 
The  law  of  God,  the  free  agency  of  man,  the  nature  of 
temptation,  and  the  motives  to  holiness,  are  the  same  in  the 
circumstances  of  both.      One  all-important  fact  alone  distin- 
guishes the  character  of  his  probation  from  ours.     Under  the 
dispensation  of  law,  to  which  he  was  amenable,  one  sin  was 
decisive  of  his  destiny.     To  us,  under  the  dispensation  of  the 
gospel,  a  way  of  salvation  is  revealed  which  extends  the  hope 
of  eternal  life  throughout  the  whole  period  of  our  probation. 
No  matter  how  much  we  have  sinned, — we  have  a  High  Priest 
who  is  able  to  save  even  to  the  uttermost.    "  He  that  believeth 
on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life."     It  is  under  such  merciful 
conditions  that  we  are  now  passing  our  probation. 

2.  How  infinitely  momentous  is  the  condition  of  an  immor- 
tal being  endowed  with  the  gift  of  free  will !     The  good  and 
the  evil  are  set  before  him.     Eternal  life  and  eternal  death  are 
both  placed  within  his  reach,  and,  as  he  puts  forth  his  hand 
either  to  the  one  or  to  the  other,  he  seals  his  destiny  forever. 
Such  is  the  condition  of  every  child  of  Adam.     When  we 
urge  you  to  seek  the  salvation  of  your  souls,  to  turn  from  the 
love  of  the  world  to  the  love  of  God,  to  become  new  creatures 
in  Christ  Jesus,  we  know  that  the  weight  of  this  solemn  re- 
sponsibility rests  upon  each  one  of  you.     Let  each  one  of  us 
bring  this  thought  home  to  his  own  heart,  and  cherish  it  there 
until  it  bring  forth  its  legitimate  results.     A  being  thus  situ- 
ated has  no  right  to  trifle  with  himself.     Procrastination  under 
such  circumstances,  when  our  probation   may  close  at  any 
moment,  is  suicide  far  worse  than  madness.     Be  not,  I  pray 
you,  guilty  of  such  wickedness.     Arouse  yourselves  to  a  true 
conception  of  your  condition,  your  responsibility,  and  your 
infinite  destiny.     Say  not,  "  Go  thy  way  for  this  time  ;  when 
I  have  a  convenient  season,  I  will  call  for  thee. "     "  Behold, 
now  is  the  accepted  time ;  behold,  now  is  the  day  of  salva- 
tion." 


JUSTIFICATION   BY   WORKS 
IMPOSSIBLE, 


"THEREFOBE  BY  THE  DEEDS   OF  THE  LAW,  THEBE  SHALL  NO  FLESH 
BE  JUSTIFIED  IN  HIS  SIGHT." 

Romans  iii.  20. 

THESE  words  express  the  conclusion  at  which  the  apostle 
arrives  after  a  full  investigation  into  the  character  and  condi- 
tion of  man. 

In  the  previous  portion  of  his  Epistle,  he  had  exposed  the 
universal  and  intense  sinfulness  both  of  the  Jews  and  Gen- 
tiles, and  the  utter  inexcusableness  of  both,  inasmuch  as  all 
had  sinned  against  clear  and  adequate  light.  He  sums  up  the 
argument  in  the  words  of  the  text  —  "  Therefore  by  the  deeds 
of  the  law,  there  shall  no  flesh  be  justified  in  his  sight ;  for  by 
the  law  is  the  knowledge  of  sin." 

By  the  term  "  deeds  of  the  law,"  we  are  to  understand 
those  deeds  which  the  law  commands.  By  "  flesh  "  is  meant 
human  nature,  the  whole  race  of  man.  The  word  "justified" 
is  susceptible  of  two  meanings.  It  may  indicate  that  he  who  is 
accused  is  declared  innocent  of  crime,  "  rectus  in  curia"  as 
by  a  judicial  tribunal,  when  he  has  been  proved  guilty  of  no 
wrong.  Secondly,  it  may  mean  to  be  treated  as  though  he 
were  just,  although  he  be  not  innocent ;  as,  for  instance,  when 
a  man  is  freely  pardoned,  all  proceedings  against  him  being 
quashed,  and  he  is  restored  to  the  standing  of  a  just  man.  It 
is  in  this  sense  that  the  word  is  used,  when  men,  who  by 
acknowledgment  are  guilty,  are  declared  to  be  justified  by 


JUSTIFICATION    BY    WORKS    IMPOSSIBLE.  95 

faith.  The  text  evidently  uses  the  word  in  the  former  of  these 
two  significations.  It  speaks  of  justification  through  the  deeds 
of  the  law,  that  is,  through  the  doing  of  those  deeds  which  the 
law  requires.  If  a  man  does  all  that  the  law  requires,  he  may 
manifestly  plead  the  law  in  justification.  He  may  demand 
that  it  declare  him  innocent  on  his  own  merits.  It  can  have 
no  further  demand  upon  him,  and  he  is  as  free  of  it  as  though 
it  had  never  existed.  The  assertion  of  the  text,  then,  is,  that 
our  whole  race,  and,  of  course,  every  individual  of  it,  is  inca- 
pable of  ever  being  justified  on  the  ground  of  having  kept  the 
requirements  of  the  moral  law  of  God. 

This  assertion  of  the  apostle  may  be  easily  illustrated  by  a 
brief  reference  to  some  of  those  declarations  of  the  Scriptures 
which  we  have  previously  considered. 

1.  The  Bible  declares  that  the  moral  law,  under  which  we 
have  been  created,  commands  us  to  love  the  Lord  our  God 
with  all  our  heart,  and  to  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves.   This, 
as  we  have  reason  to  suppose,  is  the  law  which  is  extended 
over  the  whole  moral  universe.   Sin  is  the  transgression  of  this 
law.     The  wages  of  sin  —  that  is,  what  it  deserves —  is  death. 
Indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation  and  anguish,  are  upon  every 
soul  of  man  that  doeth  evil.     This  law  is  declared  to  be  holy 
and  just,  and  good ;  that   is,  in   perfect  harmony   with   the 
attributes  of  the  most  high  God. 

2.  The  Scriptures  assert  that  man  is  destitute  of  that 'love 
which  the  law  of  God  requires ;  and  that,  in  the  place  of  it, 
he  cherishes  a  spirit  of  enmity  to  his  Maker.     "  I  know  you," 
saith  Christ,  "  that  ye  have  not  the  love  of  God  in  you."     We 
do  not  like  to  retain  God  in  our  knowledge.    Nay,  more  :  "  the 
carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God,  for  it  is  not  subject  to  the 
law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be."     Instead  of  being   filled 
with  the  love  of  man,  we  are  declared  to  be  filled  with  envy, 
deceit,  malignity,  and  every  evil  passion."   The  constitution  of 
civil  society  every  where  proceeds  upon  the  assumption  that 
men  are  selfish,   faithless,  violent,  and  cruel,  and  laws  are 
every  where  made  to  counteract  these  hateful  tendencies. 


96  JUSTIFICATION    BY    WORKS    IMPOSSIBLE. 

3.  The  Scriptures  go  farther,  and  reveal  to  us  our  moral 
condition  with  still  greater  precision.  They  teach  us  that  the 
conditions  of  our  probation  were  made  contingent  upon  the 
obedience  or  disobedience  of  our  first  parents.  They  diso- 
beyed God,  and  their  character  became  sinful.  The  condi- 
tions of  our  probation  became  thus  less  favorable,  so  that  we 
find  man  every  where  a  sinner  as  soon  as  he  begins  to  act 
under  moral  responsibility.  Thus  we  see  that  sin  is  not  an 
accident  to  which  a  part  of  mankind  are  exposed,  but  a  uni- 
versal fact  in  human  nature.  "  By  one  man,  sin  entered  into 
the  world,  and  death  by  sin,  and  so  death  has  passed  upon  all 
men,  in  that  all  have  sinned." 

Such  are  the  declarations  of  Scripture,  and  to  the  truth  of 
them  our  own  consciousness  bears  undoubted  testimony.  As 
soon  as  any  one  of  us  begins  to  compare  himself  with  the 
law  under  which  he  is  created,  or  even  with  the  imperfect 
moral  standard  held  forth  by  his  own  conscience,  he  ac- 
knowledges himself  a  sinner,  coming  short  of  the  praise  of 
God.  Nor  does  any  one  find  himself  alone  in  this  condition. 
He  is  surrounded  by  just  such  beings,  an  inhabitant  of  a  world 
lying  in  wickedness.  Examples  of  sin  abound  on  every  side. 
Men  find  their  passions  too  powerful  for  the  control  of  con- 
science ;  they  are  led  captive  by  sin,  and  are  clearly  destitute 
of  those  affections  which  are  justly  required  of  us  by  our 
Father  who  is  in  heaven.  So  deeply  rooted  is  the  conviction 
of  our  universal  sinfulness,  that  if  a  man,  in  any  age  or  coun- 
try, should  believe  himself  entirely  free  from  sin,  we  should 
either  look  upon  him  as  a  superhuman  being,  or  else,  by  uni- 
versal consent,  pronounce  him  insane. 

And,  if  any  man  entertain  any  remaining  doubt  on  this 
subject,  we  would  suggest  a  single  practical  test,  by  which  he 
may  easily  satisfy  himself.  Let  him  reflect  upon  the  character 
of  God,  and  our  relations  and  obligations  to  him,  as  they 
are  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  or  even  indicated  by  natural 
religion.  Let  him  form  some  conception  of  the  love,  the  ven- 
eration, the  obedience,  which  such  a  creature  should  exercise 


JUSTIFICATION   BY    WORKS    IMPOSSIBLE.  97 

towards  such  a  Creator,  and  then  let  him  honestly  make  the 
attempt  to  exercise  these  affections.  Let  him  retire  from  the 
business  of  the  world,  enter  his  closet,  and  hold  with  his 
Creator  such  communion  as  is  meet  for  a  child  of  the  dust  to 
hold  with  his  Father  in  heaven ;  and  let  him  maintain  this 
temper  through  life.  Let  any  man  fairly  make  this  experi- 
ment, and  I  think  he  will  have  but  little  reason  to  entertain  a 
doubt  respecting  the  moral  character  of  his  heart.  With  the 
apostle,  he  will  exclaim  in  despair,  "  The  law  is  holy,  but  I  am 
carnal,  sold  under  sin." 

Now,  such  being  the  statements  of  the  Scriptures  respecting 
the  law  of  God  and  the  moral  character  of  man,  the  conclusion 
in  the  text  is  irresistible.  The  law  requires  that  he  love  God 
with  alt  his  heart.  How  can  it  declare  him  guiltless,  when  he 
has  not  the  love  of  God  in  him,  much  less  when  his  mind  is  at 
enmity  with  God  ?  The  law  declares  that  the  wages,  the  equi- 
table desert  of  sin,  is  death.  How  can  it,  in  the  same  breath, 
declare  him,  who  is  by  acknowledgment  a  sinner,  innocent, 
and  therefore  deserving  of  eternal  life  ?  You  see  that  these 
two  assertions  are  absolute  contradictions.  If  the  law  justly 
require  us  to  love  God  with  all  our  heart,  and  we  are  at 
enmity  with  him,  we  must  be  under  condemnation.  In  this 
direction,  then,  there  is  no  possibility  of  escape.  Every 
mouth  must  be  stopped,  and  the  whole  world  lie  guilty 
before  God. 

So  much  as  this,  I  think,  has,  with  different  degrees  of  dis- 
tinctness, been  very  generally  conceded.  Men,  both  pagan 
and  Christian,  confess  themselves  sinners,  if  they  admit  a  single 
moral  principle.  Hence  the  universality  of  the  feeling  of 
human  guiltiness,  and  the  dread  of  the  judgments  of  God,  as 
the  desert  of  transgression.  But  here  the  question  arises  —  Are 
there  not  some  means  in  our  power  by  which  we  may  make 
reparation  for  our  sins,  so  that,  although  we  are  guilty,  we  may 
yet,  by  our  own  doings,  escape  the  condemnation  to  which  we 
are  exposed  ?  Since  we  cannot  be  justified  on  the  ground  of 
innocence,  may  we  not  by  our  own  merits,  or  sacrifices, 
9 


98  JUSTIFICATION    BY    WOKKS    IMPOSSIBLE. 

present  a  claim  to  be  treated  as  just,  and  thus  inherit  ever- 
lasting life  ? 

This  question,  from  the  beginning,  has  deeply  agitated  the 
human  soul.  The  confession  of  sinfulness  is  the  unbidden 
utterance  of  every  man's  conscience.  The  agitated  spirit  was 
hence  impelled  to  devise  some  means  by  which  the  conscious- 
ness of  guilt  might  be  removed  and  the  fear  of  retribution 
allayed.  The  first  expedient,  which  seems  universally  to  have 
suggested  itself,  was  the  offering  of  expiatory  victims.  Hence, 
among  the  fathers  of  our  race,  sacrifices  were  numbered  among 
the  duties  of  almost  daily  observance.  Thus  Abel  offered  to  God 
of  the  firstlings  of  his  flocks.  Job,  when  his  children  had  been 
feasting,  offered  a  sacrifice  for  each  one  of  them.  Abraham, 
wherever  he  pitched  his  tent  in  his  pastoral  migrations,  builded 
an  altar,  and  offered  upon  it  a  victim.  Thus,  when,  by  the 
command  of  God,  the  Jewish  theocracy  was  established,  almost 
all  things  were  purified  with  blood,  and  without  the  shedding 
of  blood  there  was  no  remission.  Morning  and  evening  the 
sacrifice  smoked  upon  the  altar  for  the  daily  offences  of  the 
people,  while  the  trespass  of  every  individual  was  acknowl- 
edged by  an  expiatory  offering.  The  idea  shadowed  forth  in 
all  these  observances  was  the  same.  The  worshipper  acknowl- 
edged that  he  was  a  sinner.  He  offered,  as  a  victim,  the  most 
valuable  thing  that  he  possessed,  in  the  place  of  himself,  in  the 
hope  that  the  Deity  would  accept  of  the  substitute,  and  that  the 
wrath  which  he  had  incurred  might  be  appeased  by  the  immo- 
lation of  a  brute. 

This  idea,  however,  was  by  no  means  confined  to  the 
children  of  Abraham.  It  seems  to  have  been  as  universal 
as  our  race  itself.  You  all  remember  the  hecatomb  offered 
by  the  Greeks,  when  they  desired  to  appease  the  wrath  of 
Apollo,  whose  priest  Agamemnon,  their  king,  had  insulted ;  and 
throughout  the  whole  range  of  classical  poetry,  from  the  epic 
of  Homer  to  the  lyrics  of  Horace,  nothing  more  frequently 
meets  us  than  allusions  to  sacrifices  intended  to  render  placa- 
ble the  gods  when  offended  by  the  past,  or  to  propitiate  their 


JUSTIFICATION    BY    WORKS    IMPOSSIBLE.  99 

favor  when  their  aid  was  deemed  specially  needful  for  the 
future.  Jupiter,  Apollo,  Bacchus,  Juno,  Minerva,  and  Mars, 
had  each  his  appropriate  offerings  and  appointed  priesthood, 
and  each  was  worshipped  with  mingled  feelings  of  doubt  or 
confidence,  and,  it  may  possibly  be,  in  some  cases,  with  some 
imperfect  sentiment  of  solemn  adoration. 

But  this  feeling  of  the  human  heart  did  not  even  thus  exhaust 
itself.  On  occasions  of  more  than  usual  solemnity,  and  in 
times  of  unwonted  emergency,  even  human  victims  were 
sometimes  offered  up.  Such  was  the  case  in  seasons  of 
wasting  pestilence,  always  supposed  to  be  an  indication  of  the 
divine  displeasure.  Sometimes  a  captive,  taken  in  battle,  was 
deemed  a  sufficient  atonement.  At  other  times,  the  choicest 
specimen  of  humanity  that  the  nation  could  select  was  doomed 
to  bleed  upon  the  altar.  Thus  the  history  of  the  early  age  of 
the  Hebrew  commonwealth  records  the  sad  narrative  of  the 
sacrifice  of  Jephtha's  daughter ;  and  Grecian  tragedy  has  select- 
ed for  one  of  its  most  affecting  representations  the  intended 
offering'"  up  of  Iphigenia,  the  daughter  of  Agamemnon. 

But  such  an  expedient  as  this  inevitably  loses  its  efficacy  as 
soon  as  man  listens  to  the  voice  of  his  own  consciousness. 
He  then  feels  that  guilt  is  a  personal  thing,  an  affection  of  the 
spirit,  and  that  he  himself  is  a  sinner.  It  is  he,  in  his  own 
person,  that  must  answer  at  the  bar  of  offended  justice.  Guilt 
cannot  be  transferred  to  a  brute,  nor  can  it  at  will  be  laid  upon 
the  conscience  of  another.  The  brute  has  no  moral  life ;  it 
can  neither  keep  the  law  nor  break  it,  and  can  never  assume 
the  responsibility  which  belongs  solely  to  an  immortal  spirit. 
Hence  the  worshipper  returned  from  the  sacrifice  unsatisfied 
and  unblessed.  The  Jew,  though  performing  the  rites  appointed 
by  the  Most  High,  confessed  that  it  was  not  possible  that  the 
blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats  should  take  away  sin.  The  pagan 
retired  from  the  flowing  libation  and  the  smoking  hecatomb 
bearing  about  within  him  a  conscience  still  burdened  with  the 
guilt  of  unpardoned  sin.  The  controversy  between  the  spirit 
and  its  Creator  was  still  unadjusted.  The  power  of  sin 


100  JUSTIFICATION    BY    WORKS    IMPOSSIBLE. 

remained  unbroken  Avithin  him,  and  his  soul  was,  as  before, 
self-condemned  and  despairing. 

And  hence  it  came  to  pass  that,  long  before  the  time  of 
Christ,  confidence  in  the  whole  system  of  sacrifices  was  rapidly 
passing  away,  before  the  progress  of  intellectual  culture.  I 
do  not  say  that  sacrifices  were  not  offered.  Unless  this  had 
been  done,  the  nations  had  sunk  into  atheism.  They  had, 
however,  lost  all  moral  power  over  the  minds  of  thinking 
men.  The  educated  classes  externally  conformed  to  the 
popular  belief  for  the  sake  of  enforcing  upon  the  common 
people  the  notion  of  a  superintending  Providence.  The  com- 
mon people  worshipped  as  their  fathers  had  worshipped  before 
them.  At  the  era  of  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  the  moral 
efficacy  of  such  sufferings  had  ceased,  and  their  inability  to 
restore  peace  to  a  wounded  spirit  was  universally  felt. 

This,  however,  belongs  to  a  time  that  has  passed  away.  A 
reference  to  it  is,  however,  not  without  its  utility,  inasmuch  as 
it  reveals  to  us  a  universal  human  sentiment,  and  illustrates  the 
course  of  action  to  which  that  sentiment  so  generally  led. 

Another  view  of  this  subject  has  been  frequently  taken  by 
those  who  have  been  conscious  of  the  guilt  of  sin.  They  have 
supposed  that  reparation  to  the  violated  law  might  be  made  by 
repentance  and  reformation.  This  idea  would  naturally  sug- 
gest itself  to  a  thoughtful  mind,  earnestly  inquiring  for  recon- 
ciliation with  God.  It  has  at  all  times  sought  to  ingraft  itself 
upon  Christianity,  and  thus  render  needless  the  atoning  sacri- 
fice of  Christ.  As  the  consequences,  both  theoretical  and 
practical,  which  result  from  it,  are  important,  I  will  examine  it 
with  as  much  care  as  the  remaining  time  allotted  to  this  dis- 
course will  allow. 

The  doctrine  in  question  is,  I  suppose,  essentially  this : 
Although  man  be  a  sinner,  as  the  word  of  God  declares  him 
jo  be,  yet,  by  repentance  and  reformation,  he  may  make 
such  reparation  as  will  entitle  him  to  be  treated  as  just  or 
jinocent ;  and  thus  he  may  become  justified  by  the  works  of 
he  law. 


JUSTIFICATION    BY    WORKS    IMPOSSIBLE.  101 

Repentance  is  the  temper  of  mind  which  is  appropriate  to  a 
moral  agent  who  has  done  wrong.  If  a  man  have  violated  a 
good  and  righteous  law,  it  becomes  him  to  regret  his  action,  to 
take  the  blame  of  it  upon  himself,  to  acknowledge  the  justice 
of  the  l»w,  and  submit  himself,  without  reserve,  to  its  enact- 
ments. He  dislikes  the  act,  not  on  account  of  the  conse-' 
quences  which  follow  it,  but  on  account  of  its  own  essential 
turpitude. 

Repentance  towards  God  is  nothing  other  than  the  exercise 
of  these  tempers  of  mind  in  view  of  our  relations  to  him. 
We  have  sinned  against  him,  and  violated  his  holy  law.  If  we 
repent,  we  regret  our  fault  sincerely,  and  without  reserve ;  we 
take  the  blame  of  our  conduct  upon  ourselves ;  we  abhor  our- 
selves for  our  wrong  doing,  and  acknowledge  the  equity  of  the 
law  which  condemns  us.  "Against  thee,  thee  only  have  I 
sinned  and  done  evil  in  thy  sight,  that  thou  mightest  be  justi- 
fied when  thou  speakest,  and  be  clear  when  thou  judgest." 
Now,  if  I  understand  the  doctrine  which  we  are  considering,  it 
declares  that  he  who  exercises  this  temper  of  mind  is  thereby 
justified,  and,  on  this  ground,  may  claim  to  be  treated  as 
though  he  had  been  innocent. 

On  this  subject  I  would  offer  a  few  obvious  considerations. 

1.  If  this  doctrine  be  true,  it  must  proceed  upon  an  entire 
change  of  the  moral  law.  The  law  which  the  Scriptures  have 
revealed  is,  that  the  wages  of  sin  is  death.  This  is  its  equita- 
ble desert.  To  declare,  however,  that  if  a  man  repents  of  his 
sin,  he  is  entitled  to  justification,  is  to  introduce  another  law, 
and  to  declare  not  that  sin  of  itself  is  deserving  of  death,  but 
only  sin  unrepented  of.  Now,  I  ask,  where  do  we  find  the 
authority  for  announcing  such  a  law  ?  Revelation  does  not 
teach  it.  The  laws  of  civil  society  do  not  present  any  analo- 
gies which  would  lead  us  to  believe  it  true.  No  government 
on  earth  could  be  administered  upon  this  principle.  I  know 
well  that  the  Scriptures  abundantly  promise  that  he  who 
repents  of  his  sins  shall  find  mercy;  but  to  me  they  seem 
with  the  utmost  precision  to  declare  that  repentance  is  not  the 
9* 


102  JUSTIFICATION    BY    WORKS    IMPOSSIBLE. 

procuring  cause  of  pardon,  and  that  it  can  give  the  offender  no 
claim  to  the  remission  of  sins.  "  We  are  justified  freely  by 
his  grace  through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus." 
"  In  whom  we  have  redemption  through  his  blood,  even  the 
forgiveness  of  sins."  "  He  hath  made  him  to  be  sin  (a  sin- 
offering)  for  us,  who  himself  knew  no  sin,  that  we  might  be 
made  the  righteousness  of  God"  (righteous  in  the  sight  of 
God)  "  in  him."  Pardon  for  the  race  of  man  having  thus 
been  made  possible  by  the  work  of  the  Messiah,  Jt  is  freely 
offered  to  all  who  will  repent  and  believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Repentance  itself  has  no  power  to  justify  us ;  it  is 
only  the  condition  on  which  the  atonement  of  Christ  is  made 
available  to  the  sinner. 

&2.  This  doctrine  would,  as  it  seems  to  me,  lead  to  new 
views  of  divine  justice.  If  a  sinner  can  claim  justification  at 
the  hands  of  God  in  virtue  of  repentance,  then  there  would 
seem  but  little  distinction  to  exist  between  innocence  and  guilt. 
He  who  had  kept  the  whole  law  without  fault,  and  he  who  had 
broken  every  commandment  through  life,  and  at  last  repented 
of  his  sins,  would  both  stand  in  the  same  moral  condition 
before  God ;  both,  on  the  ground  of  their  own  doings,  being 
entitled  to  be  treated  as  innocent.  Now,  if  this  be  true,  the 
desert  of  sin  could  not  be  death,  but  only  of  sin  unrepented  of. 
Sin  repented  of,  and  innocence,  would  both  deserve  the  same 
treatment.  I  cannot  persuade  myself  that  the  Scriptures  pre- 
sent this  view  of  our  relations  to  God. 

3.  If  this  doctrine  be  true,  we  should,  I  think,  believe  that 
God  himself  entertained  no  moral  displeasure  against  sin,  but 
only  against  sin  unrepented  of.  The  announcement  of  his 
law  would  seem  to  be,  that  holiness  and  sin  repented  of  were 
equally  lovely  in  his  sight,  inasmuch  as  they  were  by  his  law 
entitled  to  the  same  reward.  The  Deity  would  thus  seem  to 
entertain  less  abhorrence  to  sin  than  the  penitent  himself. 
The  penitent  acknowledges  that  his  whole  life  has  been  mor- 
ally loathsome  ;  that,  on  account  of  it,  he  deserves  to  suffer  the 
penalty  of  the  law  ;  while,  upon  this  supposition,  God  is  repre- 


JUSTIFICATION    BY    WORKS    IMPOSSIBLE.  1U3 

sented  as  assuring  him  that  there  is  nothing  deserving  of 
punishment  in  sin,  but  only  in  unrepented  sin ;  and  that  now, 
since  he  has  repented,  he  may  make  the  same  claim  to  justifi- 
cation as  if  he  had  ever  been  innocent.  I  by  no  means 
suppose  that  these  sentiments  are  entertained  by  those  who 
believe  the  doctrine  in  question.  I  merely  assert  that  these 
are  the  consequences  to  which,  as  it  seems  to  me,  the  doctrine 
by  necessity  leads. 

And,  lastly,  were  this  the  law  of  the  divine  dispensation,  I 
think  that  it  would  defeat  its  own  object ;  for,  were  this  the 
law,  repentance  would  be  impossible. 

Repentance  can  only  arise  from  a  conviction  of  the  moral 
turpitude  of  sin ;  it  is  an  abhorrence  of  the  act  purely  on 
account  of  its  moral  wrong.  But,  upon  the  supposition  in 
question,  sin  itself  is  not  wrong,  or  odious  in  the  sight  of  God, 
but  only  sin  unrepented  of.  But,  if  the  act  itself  be  not  mor- 
ally detestable,  of  what  is  there  for  us  to  repent  ?  We  are  to 
be  penitent  not  for  the  act,  but  for  our  impenitence,  while 
penitence  itself  is  impossible,  because  the  act  is  not  in  itself 
worthy  of  condemnation. 

As  soon  as  we  abstract  from  an  act  its  desert  of  the 
displeasure  of  God,  there  is  no  need  of  any  change  of  mind 
towards  it ;  and  sorrow  for  it  cannot  possibly  exist.  It  may 
be  said  that  we  may  be  sorry  for  the  consequences ;  but  then 
this  is  not  repentance,  nor  is  it  at  all  a  moral  exercise.  To 
expect  that  this  would  justify  us,  would  be  to  declare  that  a 
man  should  be  treated  as  innocent,  as  soon  as  he  became 
afraid  of  the  consequences  of  his  crime. 

To  me,  then,  the  Scriptures  seem  to  assert  that  repentance 
can  offer  no  atonement  for  sin.  If  the  law  be  holy,  and  just, 
and  good,  it  is  holy,  and  just,  and  good,  that  it  be  enforced. 
If  a  man  repent  of  his  sins,  this  is  right,  and  he  shall  have 
the  advantage  of  it ;  but  under  a  system  of  law,  this  can 
make  no  reparation  for  past  transgression.  The  man  con- 
fesses that  the  law  is  just ;  but  this  confession  does  not  render 
it  less  just.  He  acknowledges  that  he  deserves  to  perish  : 


104  JUSTIFICATION    BV    WORKS    IMPOSSIBLE.  ' 

but  this  does  not  alter  his  desert.  He  still  deserves  the  just 
award  of  his  past  guilt.  "  Therefore,  by  the  deeds  of  the 
law  can  no  flesh  be  justified,  for  by  the  law  is  the  knowledge 
of  sin." 

Such  seems  to  me  to  be  the  result  to  which  revelation  leads 
us,  considered  as  a  system  of  law.  Such  was  the  dispensa- 
tion under  which  we  wfere  originally  created.  But  the  con- 
ditions of  this  form  of  probation  were  violated  originally  by 
our  first  parents,  and  they  have  been  violated  by  their  descend- 
ants ever  since.  Hence,  were  there  in  the  Scriptures  no 
other  announcement,  the  Bible  would  be  to  us  nothing  else 
than  a  sentence  of  universal  condemnation.  But,  blessed  be 
God  !  it  contains  something  else  than  condemnation.  It  is  an 
offer  of  universal  pardon  to  the  race  of  man,  through  the 
mediation  of  Him  who  "  loved  us,  and  gave  himself  for  us." 
As  the  conditions  of  our  first  probation  were  rendered  void, 
and  the  commandment,  which  was  ordained  unto  life,  was 
found  to  be  unto  death,  God  provided  for  us  a  second  proba- 
tion, established  upon  better  promises.  "  God  so  loved  the 
world  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  on  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 
This  is  the  great  message  of  eternal  love  to  the  lost  and 
perishing  race  of  man.  It  is  in  virtue  of  this  atonement,  made 
by  the  Messiah,  that  pardon  and  eternal  life  are  now  freely 
offered  to  every  penitent  believer. 

To  reveal  this  great  and  astonishing  truth  is  the  great 
design  of  revealed  religion.  Natural  religion  intimated  to  us 
our  sin,  and  dimly  foreshadowed  the  doom  of  our  transgres- 
sion. But  from  natural  religion  itself,  —  merely  a  system  of 
law,  —  no  news  of  reconciliation  could  proceed.  It  is  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  alone  that  brings  lite  and  immortality  to 
light.  It  is  by  Jesus  Christ  that  we  are  justified  from  all 
things  from  which  we  could  not  be  justified  by  the  law  of 
Moses.  For  the  announcement  of  this  great  central  truth,  the 
whole  previous  history  of  our  world  was  one  magnificent 
preparation.  For  this  end,  empires  arose,  flourished,  and  fell. 


JUSTIFICATION    BY    WORKS    IMPOSSIBLE.  105 

To  prepare  the  way  for  the  Desire  of  all  nations,  sccrs  fore- 
saw, and  prophets  foretold ;  "  for  the  testimony  to  Jesus  is  the 
spirit  of  prophecy."  And  when  the  second  Adam,  he  who 
was  thus,  by  his  life  and  death,  to  change  the  terms  of  our 
probation,  appeared,  the  blind  saw,  the  lepers  were  cleansed, 
the  dead  were  raised,  the  elements  were  stilled,  and  malig- 
nant spirits  were  obedient  to  his  all-powerful  word.  All 
things,  material  and  spiritual,  did  homage  to  him,  "  the  bright- 
ness of  the  Father's  glory,"  who  had  come  by  himself  to 
purge  away  our  sins. 

Although,  then,  by  the  deeds  of  the  law  no  flesh  can  be 
justified,  though  of  ourselves  we  are  helpless  and  undone, 
yet  we  may  not  despair,  "  for  our  help  is  laid  upon  one  that 
is  mighty,"  one  who  is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  every  one 
that  believeth.  "  This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all 
acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save 
sinners."  The  way  of  life  is  just  as  open  to  us  as  the  way 
of  death.  The  blessed  message  to  every  one  of  us  is, 
"  Whosoever  will,  let  him  come  and  take  of  the  fountain 
of  the  water  of  life  freely."  If,  then,  any  of  us  should  finally 
perish,  it  will  not  be  because  we  are  sinners,  nor  because  we 
had  ruined  ourselves,  but,  in  addition  to  all  this,  because  we 
have  rejected  the  gift  of  eternal  life  freely  offered  to  us  in  the 
gospel. 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  ADVENT  OF 
THE  MESSIAH. 


PART  I. 

"WHEN  THE  FULNESS  OF  TIME  WAS  COME,  GOD  SENT  FORTH  HIS  SON." 

Galatians  iv.  4. 

"THE  WORLD  BY  WISDOM  KNEW  NOT  GOD." 

1  Corinthians  i.  21. 

THE  Scriptures,  my  brethren,  distinctly  teach  us  that  our 
race  was  at  the  beginning  placed  under  a  system  of  proba- 
tion ;  that  the  conditions  of  that  probation  were  not  only 
equitable,  but  merciful ;  that  these  conditions  were  violated 
by  our  first  parents ;  and  that,  in  consequence  of  that  event, 
every  one  of  their  descendants  has  been  voluntarily  sinful ; 
and  hence,  that,  by  the  deeds  of  the  law,  —  that  is,  on  the 
ground  of  our  obedience  to  its  precepts, — no  flesh  can  be 
justified ;  but  that  every  one  of  us  is,  on  account  of  his  own 
transgressions,  justly  exposed  to  its  righteous  condemnation. 

Viewed  in  this  light  alone,  nothing  can  be  more  appalling 
than  the  condition  of  humanity.  We  are  all  sinners.  We 
choose  to  be  sinners.  Not  liking  to  retain  God  in  our  knowl- 
edge, we  have  surrendered  ourselves  to  the  dominion  of  our 
own  passions.  We  do  this  in  opposition  to  all  the  instructions 
and  all  the  warnings  both  of  nature  and  revelation.  "  We 
know  our  duty,  but  we  do  it  not."  The  moral  law,  under 
which  we  were  created,  and  which,  in  every  act,  we  have 
violated,  is  holy,  and  just,  and  good ;  and  therefore  it  is 


PREPARATION    FOR    THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH.       107 

unchangeable.  Its  requirements  cannot  be  abated,  nor  can  its 
sanctions  be  abrogated.  Supposing,  then,  that  no  other  terms 
of  probation  could  be  offered  to  us,  the  law  must  take  its 
course,  and  we  must  sink  without  remedy  under  its  unmiti- 
gated curse. 

Were  this  all,  were  we  still  "  under  the  law,"  —  to  use  the 
language  of  St.  Paul,  —  sad  would  be  .the  revelation  presented 
to  us  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  It  could  do  nothing  more  than 
make  manifest  to  us  the  wrath  of  God  "  revealed  from  heaven 
against  all  ungodliness  and  unrighteousness  of  men."  Like 
the  roll  of  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  it  would  be  "  written  within 
and  without  with  mourning,  and  lamentation,  and  woe."  It 
could  do  nothing  more  than  lift  that  veil  which  hides  from  our 
view  the  dwellings  of  the  lost,  and  bid  us  listen  to  the  despair- 
ing blasphemies  which  ascend  without  ceasing  from  the  bot- 
tomless abyss. 

Such  would  be  to  our  sinful  race  a  revelation  of  simple 
law.  But,  thanks  be  unto  God  for  his  unspeakable  gift,  such 
is  not  our  hopeless  case.  God  has  revealed  himself  to  us,  in 
the  gospel  of  his  Son,  as  a  "  God  forgiving  iniquity,  transgres- 
sion, and  sin."  In  infinite  mercy  he  has  granted  to  us  a  new 
probation,  and  has  provided  for  us  a  new  covenant,  established 
upon  better  promises.  To  a  race  by  their  sin  shut  out  from 
all  hope  of  eternal  life,  —  "  for  by  the  deeds  of  the  law  shall  no 
flesh  be  justified,"  —  he  has  made  the  offer  of  free,  full,  univer- 
sal pardon.  To  men  steeped  in  sin  he  has  made  known  a 
way  of  restoration  to  purity,  holiness,  and  eternal  life.  I  say 
restoration,  but  this  word  expresses  but  a  part  of  the  truth,  for 
God  has  done  infinitely  more.  He  has  promised  to  raise  those 
of  our  race,  who  accept  of  the  terms  of  reconciliation  reely 
offered  to  all,  to  blessings  vastly  greater  than  those  which  have 
been  lost  by  our  apostasy.  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he 
gave  his  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  The  believer 
enters  heaven,  not  in  the  image  of  the  first,  but  of  the  second 
Adam.  He  pauses  not  at  the  outer  court  of  the  temple  made 


108      PREPARATION    FOR   THE    ADVENT    OP    MESSIAH. 

without  hands,  but  entereth  within  the  veil,  "  whither  the  fore- 
runner has  for  us  entered,  even  Jesus,  made  a  High  Priest 
forever  after  the  order  of  Melchisedek." 

The  great  object  of  the  New  Testament  is  to  teach  us  the 
means  by  which  this  change  in  the  conditions  of  our  probation 
was  effected,  and  the  manner  in  which  we  may  avail  ourselves 
of  its  advantages. 

But  the  inquiry  will  readily  suggest  itself  to  every  thought- 
ful mind,  Why  was  not  this  way  of  salvation  made  known  to 
man  as  soon  as  he  had  apostatized  ?  Why  was  not  the  remedy 
administered  as  soon  as  the  existence  of  the  disease  was  dis- 
covered ?  I  answer,  The  purpose  to  redeem  our  race  was 
formed  in  the  counsels  of  Eternity.  A  mysterious  intimation 
was  given  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  that  though  all  was  lost,  yet, 
in  the  unfathomable  wisdom  and  mercy  of  God,  all  was  not 
irrecoverably  lost.  "  Her  seed  shall  bruise  thy  head,"  were  the 
enigmatical  words  in  which  were  wrapped  up  the  promise  of 
our  final  victoiy  over  all  the  powers  of  evil.  To  the  parents 
of  our  race  they  must  have  been  but  imperfectly  understood  ; 
yet  they  shed  down  a  ray  of  hope  upon  the  thick  darkness 
which  enveloped  us.  He  who  uttered  them,  alone  compre- 
hended the  fulness  of  the  blessing  which  he  purposed  to  con- 
fer upon  our  race,  and  he  then  commenced,  and  he  has  ever 
since  continued,  that  course  of  administration  which  has  for 
its  object  the  regeneration  of  our  world,  and  the  giving  unto  the 
Messiah  "  the  heathen  for  his  inheritance,  and  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth  for  his  possession." 

Ages  now  rolled  away.  A  world  was  drowned  by  a  flood. 
A  second  parentage  was  selected  for  our  race.  Empires  rose, 
flourished,  declined,  and  were  forgotten.  Other  empires,  to 
whom  even  the  record  of  the  existence  of  their  predecessors 
had  never  been  handed  down,  arose  upon  their  ruins.  These 
again  flourished,  declined,  and  were  forgotten.  Age  after  age 
stumbled  on  in  darkness,  and,  in  quick  succession,  groped  their 
way  downward  to  the  regions  of  despair.  Four  thousand 
years  had  each  presented  its  myriads  before  the  bar  of  God, 


PREPARATION    FOR   THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH.      109 

arid  yet  the  destiny  of  our  race,  to  all  but  an  insignificant 
tribe,  remained  shrouded  in  impenetrable  darkness.  Sages 
and  philosophers  had  looked  on  every  side  for  light,  but  still 
they  gazed  upon  nothing  but  starless  midnight.  At  length 
"  the  morning  star  took  his  station  over  the  stable  of  Bethle- 
hem." The  day  dawned.  The  Sun  of  righteousness  arose 
with  healing  in  his  beams,  and  discovered  to  an  astonished 
world  the  gates  of  heaven  thrown  wide  open  to  every  one 
that  believeth  in  Jesus. 

But,  even  here,  we  naturally  ask,  Why  was  this  delay  ?  Why 
did  not  the  Messiah  appear  at  an  earlier  period,  and  at  once  put 
away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself?  To  this  question  various 
satisfactory  answers  might,  I  think,  be  returned.  It  might  be 
said  that  this  was  a  question  to  which  our  reason  offered  no 
means  of  solution  ;  or  it  might  be  suggested  that  he  who,  in 
boundless  mercy,  provided  for  us  such  a  way  of  salvation,  would, 
also,  in  the  exercise  of  the  same  mercy,  select  the  most 
appropriate  time  for  revealing  it  to  us.  Or,  again,  it  might  be 
said  that  perhaps  God  chose  to  exhibit  to  the  moral  universe 
the  evils  of  sin,  and  hence  he  suffered  it  for  ages  in  our  world 
to  work  out  its  legitimate  results.  The  text,  however,  suggests 
a  reason  at  once  definite  and  satisfactory  ;  it  teaches  us  that 
when  the  fulness  of  time  was  come,  or,  as  perhaps  we,  using 
another  illustration,  should  say,  when  every  thing  was  ripe 
for  this  august  event,  God  sent  forth  his  Son.  From  these 
words  we  learn  that  before  the  Son  of  God  could  be  sent,  there 
must  be  a  preparation  made  for  his  appearing.  A  connected 
series  of  intellectual,  social,  and  moral  changes  must  take 
place,  before  the  coming  of  Christ  could  produce  its  intended 
results.  Until  these  preliminary  events  had  transpired,  the 
Messiah  could  not,  in  accordance  with  the  all-wise  purposes 
of  God,  appear.  When,  however,  this  preparatory  work  had 
been  accomplished ;  when,  in  the  words  of  the  text,  the  ful- 
ness of  time  had  come  ;  at  the  very  moment  selected  by 
infinite  wisdom,  —  "  then  God  sent  forth  his  Son,  made  of  a 
woman,  made  under  the  law,  to  redeem  them  that  were 
10 


110      PREPARATION    FOR    THE    ADVENT   OF    MESSIAH. 

under   the   law,   that  we    might    receive    the    adoption    of 
sons."  * 

If  now  we  consider  this  subject  somewhat  more  attentively, 
several  views  will  readily  present  themselves. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  we  observe  that  the  word  of  God 
had  proclaimed  the  universal  sirifulness  of  man,  and  the  moral 
corruption  of  our  whole  race,  and  had  declared  that  by  the 
deeds  of  the  law  no  flesh  could  be  justified.  It  seems  to  have 
formed  a  part  of  the  plan  of  the  Deity  to  subject  mankind  to 
the  test  of  experiment ;  so  that  it  might  be  evident  to  the 
whole  universe  that  his  assertion  was  true  ;  and  that  thus  a 
practical  demonstration  might  be  given  of  the  necessity  of  the 
work  of  redemption  in  order  to  our  salvation. 

For  this  purpose  man  was  left  in  general  to  the  light  which 
he  had  received  from  the  beginning.  To  this  was  added,  in 
the  Gentile  world,  the  teaching  of  natural  religion ;  while  to 
the  Jews  was  superadded  the  teaching  of  a  written  revelation. 
For  four  thousand  years  our  race  was  left  to  these  moral 
influences,  that  it  might  be  seen  whether  any  would  "  feel  after 
God,  though  he  was  not  far  from  any  one  of  them."  The  ex- 
periment showed  conclusively  that  the  word  of  God  was  true  to 
the  letter,  that  men  "  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowl- 
edge ; "  and,  yet  more,  that  "  the  thoughts  of  the  imaginations 
of  their  hearts  were  only  evil  continually." 
'During  these  four  thousand  years,  there  appeared,  as  I  have 

*  When  I  here  speak  of  the  necessity  of  preparation  in  order  to 
accomplish  a  purpose  of  the  Almighty,  I  trust  I  am  understood. 
There  is  nothing  here  said  which  is  intended  to  signify  any  limita- 
tion to  the  absolute  power  of  the  Almighty.  He  might,  if  he  had 
chosen,  have  abolished  all  the  intellectual  and  social  laws  to  which 
man  was  subjected,  and  have  established  new  ones.  This  would, 
however,  have  been  to  create  man  anew.  What  is  meant  is  simply 
this  —  that,  the  laws  existing  as  they  were  at  the  beginning,  such  a 
preparation  was  necessary  in  order  to  the  accomplishment  of  the 
purposes  supposed.  It  is  not,  therefore,  meant  that  God  could  not 
have  done  otherwise,  but  that  he  could  not  have  done  otherwise 
without  abolishing  the  laws  which  he  had  established. 


PREPARATION    FOR   THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH.      Ill 

said,  no  tendency  in  man  to  grow  better.  There  had  been 
formed  no  true  or  even  rational  conception  of  the  Godhead. 
The  ignorance  of  the  character  of  the  Deity,  and  of  our 
relations  to  him,  which  overspread  our  race,  became,  age 
after  age,  more  profound.  Moral  corruption,  at  once  the  cause 
and  the  effect  of  this  ignorance,  became  more  and  more 
intense,  until,  at  the  time  of  the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  the 
world  had  attained  to  a  preeminence  in  wickedness  such  as 
no  period,  either  before  or  since,  has  ever  witnessed. 

I  do  not,  however,  affirm  that  this  course  of  moral  dete- 
rioration was  in  the  line  of  straight  and  uniform  descent. 
From  the  nature  of  the  case,  this  could  not  be,  since,  then,  the 
race  would  have  perished  from  the  unrestrained  indulgence 
of  every  evil  passion.  The  process  was  in  fact  something 
like  the  following.  In  infancy,  poverty,  and  feebleness,  nations 
are  comparatively  virtuous.  They  cannot  be  otherwise,  since 
the  struggle  for  existence  leaves  no  leisure  to  listen  to  the 
seductions  of  vice,  and  consciousness  of  inferiority  renders 
successful  aggression  hopeless.  But,  with  progress  of  wealth 
and  power,  the  means  of  vicious  gratification  stimulate  the 
passions  of  the  human  mass.  Sensuality,,  even  to  loathsome- 
ness, corrupts  the  sentiments  of  the  entire  people,  and  gradu- 
ally expels  every  generous  impulse.  Selfishness  usurps  the 
place  of  patriotism.  The  insane  love  of  pleasure,  utterly 
reckless  of  consequences,  becomes  the  ruling  passion  of  the 
soul.  The  body  politic  is  enfeebled  by  moral  corruption,  and 
the  nation  becomes  the  prey  of  some  barbarous  but  less  vicious 
horde.  These,  again,  erect  the  standard  of  empire,  and  flourish 
on  the  ruins  of  a  slaughtered  or  enslaved  people.  But  they 
breathe  an  atmosphere  already  tainted  with  moral  infection. 
They  draw  their  nourishment  from  a  soil  poisoned  by  intense 
sensuality.  The  conquerors  are  in  turn  subdued  by  the  vices 
of  the  conquered,  and,  by  a  quicker  transition,  become  the 
slaves  of  luxury  and  vice  ;  until  they  themselves  become  the 
victims  of  another  people,  destined  to  pursue  the  same  sad 
round  of  wickedness  and  retribution.  Such  was  the  history 


112     PREPARATION    FOR   THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH. 

of  the  world  for  ages.  Such  would  it  be  forever  tvere  not 
some  moral  force  introduced  from  without  to  arrest  its  down- 
ward tendency. 

But,  besides  this  general  fact,  it  deserves  more  particularly 
to  be  remarked,  that  this  experiment  upon  the  moral  character 
of  man  was  made  under  every  possible  variety  of  circum- 
stances. In  the  first  place,  the  legislators  of  antiquity  were 
not  unaware  of  this  propensity  in  man  to  evil ;  and  they  strove, 
by  all  the  means  which  they  could  devise,  to  correct  it.  For 
this  end,  they  constructed  every  conceivable  form  of  govern- 
ment. Monarchy,  aristocracy,  democracy,  were  all  tried, 
under  every  modification  that  the  wit  of  man  could  suggest. 
Power  over  man  was  lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  one,  of  the 
few,  or  of  the  many.  All  these  expedients  were  found  equally 
and  totally  ineffectual.  There  seemed  but  little  difficulty  in  origi- 
nating a  form  of  government,  which,  under  favorable  external 
circumstances,  might  raise  a  poor  and  industrious  people  to 
power  and  wealth ;  but  the  attainment  of  this  very  object 
seemed  to  render  their  downfall  inevitable.  The  moral  ten- 
dency was  towards  deterioration.  The  mass  gravitated  to  the 
earth,  and  by  no  change  in  its  form  could  you  either  check  its 
progress,  or  arrest  the  operation  of  that  law  by  which  it  was 
evidently  governed. 

Legislation,  then,  during  this  long  interval,  seemed  to  have 
ended  in  nothing  but  failure.  It  could  offer  no  successful 
resistance  to  this  propensity  to  evil.  Thus  it  became  evident, 
that  no  system  of  laws,  and  no  constitution  of  government,  had 
power  either  to  elevate  the  tone  of  private  morals,  or  to  foster 
such  attainments  in  public  virtue,  as  could  save  them  from 
dissolution.  Hence  it  was  demonstrated  that  hope  from  the 
principles  of  our  social  nature  was  not  to  be  expected ;  and 
that,  unless  help  should  arise  from  some  other  source,  the  con- 
dition of  our  race  was  desperate,  and  our  moral  reformation 
impossible. 

But  this  was  not  the  only  trial  to  which  the  moral  character 
of  our  race  was  subjected.  During  these  ages  of  political 


PREPARATION    FOR    THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH.      113 

change,  the  human  mind,  in  many  nations,  had  made  aston- 
ishing acquirements  in  the  power  of  philosophical  research. 
From  the  time  of  Pythagoras  to  that  of  Socrates,  especially 
among  the  Greeks,  men  had  ceased  not  to  inquire  for  the  rea- 
son of  the  facts,  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral,  which  were 
transpiring  around  them.  Questions  were  continually  asked 
concerning  the  character  of  the  Deity,  and  our  relations  and 
obligations  to  him.  During  this  long  interval,  however,  while 
an  increasing  multitude  of  educated  men  were  directing  their 
attention  to  subjects  of  spiritual  philosophy,  they  continued,  age 
after  age,  to  wander  farther  and  farther  from  the  truth.  This 
downward  tendency  reached  its  lowest  level  at  the  period  of 
the  intellectual  reign  of  the  sophists,  —  a  name  which  has  ever 
since  been  synonymous  with  treachery  and  falsehood.  Setting 
aside,  as  worse  than  useless,  all  questions  of  practical  duty, 
their  only  object  was  to  cultivate  the  intellect  to  the  highest 
refinement  of  subtlety,  that  so  it  might  become  more  exqui- 
sitely skilful  in  the  arts  of  deception  and  intrigue.  They 
boasted  of  their  ability  to  prove  the  same  act  to  be  either 
right  or  wrong,  wise  or  unwise,  true  or  false,  as  occasion  might 
require.  Hence  they  baptized  the  intellect  itself  in  falsehood, 
and  subverted,  at  their  foundation,  the  veiy  principles  of  virtue. 
Thus  philosophy,  which  was  designed  to  lead  men  to  truth,  to 
goodness,  and  to  piety,  became  the  unblushing  pander  to  vice. 
It  not  only  darkened  counsel  by  words  without  knowledge,  but 
it  steeped  the  conscience  itself  in  corruption, — a  corruption  the 
more  incurable,  because  it  seemed  to  flow  from  the  sources 
which  Nature  herself  had  opened  in  the  fountains  of  the  human 
understanding. 

It  was  at  this  eventful  period  that  Socrates  appeared,  who, 
with  a  self-sacrificing  earnestness  which  indicated  a  pure  love 
of  virtue,  combatted  the  enormous  errors  of  his  age.  From 
the  things  that  are  made,  he  proved  the  existence  and  attributes 
of  their  Maker.  From  the  character  of  God,  he  taught  men, 
in  many  respects,  the  relations  which  they  sustain  to  him. 
Attacking  the  sophists  of  Athens,  sometimes  by  argument  and 


114     PREPARATION    FOR    THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH. 

sometimes  by  ridicule,  he  was  exposing  them  to  the  contempt 
which  they  merited,  when  his  life  was  cut  off  by  an  act  of 
judicial  murder.  The  philosopher  died,  but  his  sentiments 
still  lived.  They  inspired  with  new  life  the  mind  of  Plato,  a 
name  destined  to  enduring  immortality.  The  intellect  of  this 
remarkable  person  was  perhaps  more  preeminently  gifted  than 
that  of  any  man  who  has  ever  devoted  his  attention  to  spiritual 
inquiry.  To  an  acuteness  which  nothing  could  elude,  a  taste 
which  found  its  models  in  its  own  faultless  conceptions,  he 
added  an  imagination,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  first  critic 
of  antiquity,  has  entitled  him  to  the  rank  of  the  Homer  of 
prose.  His  discourses  are,  at  the  present  day,  to  be  numbered 
among  the  choicest  specimens  of  composition  that  the  human 
mind  has  produced.  But,  if  I  do  not  mistake,  he  was  wanting 
in  the  simple  humility  and  virtuous  earnestness  of  his  master, 
and  hence  his  splendid  talents  were  too  much  directed  to  the 
purpose  of  displaying  their  own  magnificence.  Truth,  virtue, 
duty,  nay,  the  character  of  the  Deity  itself,  became  matters  of 
refined,  abstruse,  though  glorious,  speculation.  The  guide- 
post  which  Socrates  had  erected,  was  entwined  so  thickly  with 
roses,  that  it  was  difficult  to  discover  the  direction  in  which  it 
pointed.  The  path  which  he  had  opened  was  planted  so 
densely  with  shrubbery,  it  was  adorned  so  profusely  with 
statues  and  shrines,  that  the  wayfarer  was  bewildered  in  a 
labyrinth  of  beauty ;  and,  pausing  so  frequently  to  admire, 
forgot  the  object  for  which  his  journey  had  been  commenced. 
To  Plato  succeeded  Aristotle,  a  name  which  ruled  the 
human  mind  with  undisputed  sway,  in  many  departments  of 
science,  from  his  own  era  to  that  of  Bacon,  and  of  which  the 
influence  is  acknowledged  even  to  the  present  day.  Endowed 
with  but  little  imagination,  he  was,  perhaps,  the  most  clear-sighted 
reasor.3r  the  world  has  ever  seen  ;  while  in  amplitude  of  learn- 
ing, exactitude  of  inquiry,  and  power  of  philosophic  generali- 
zation, succeeding  ages  have  rarely  furnished  his  equal.  He 
so  expounded  the  doctrines  and  perfected  the  sciences  of 
logic  and  rhetoric,  that,  as  they  fell  from  his  hand,  so  they 


PREPARATION    FOR    THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH.      115 

have  remained,  almost  without  addition  or  alteration,  through 
the  lapse  of  more  than  two  thousand  years.  The  existing  knowl- 
edge of  physical  science  was  moulded  into  shape  by  his  plastic 
hand,  while  it  received  vast  additions  from  his  scrutinizing 
investigations.  But  while  Science  thus  gratefully  acknowledges 
her  obligations  to  the  philosopher  of  Stagira,  religion  owes  him 
no  homage.  In  no  respect,  that  I  am  aware  of,  did  he  enlarge 
our  knowledge  of  God,  or  of  our  relations  and  obligations  to 
him.  It  is  true  he  taught  the  world  wisdom.  He  explained 
to  us  the  laws  in  obedience  to  which  the  mind  advances  in  the 
pursuit  of  truth  or  in  the  detection  of  error ;  and  he  unfolded 
those  canons  of  criticism  which  enter  even  now  into  our  course 
of  collegiate  study ;  but  he  taught  us  nothing  concerning  the 
way  of  deliverance  from  sin.  He  scattered  light  upon  eveiy 
path  but  that  which  leads  us  to  God.  If  it  had  been  in  the 
power  of  the  human  intellect  to  regenerate  the  moral  character 
of  man,  this  regeneration  would  have  been  effected  by  Aris- 
totle. No  man  was  ever  possessed  of  a  surer  or  wider  mental 
vision.  No  man  had  ever  a  greater  power  of  moulding  the 
mind  of  following  ages  into  the  form  of  his  own  conceptions ; 
yet^  in  respect  to  religion,  he  left  the  race  just  where  he  found 
it.  None  of  his  precepts  have  ever,  by  their  transforming 
energy,  regenerated  the  souls  of  his  disciples.  No  change 
from  vice  to  virtue  was  ever  known  to  follow  the  teaching  of 
his  doctrines.  His  works  have  been  the  chosen  study  of  Pagan 
and  Mohammedan,  of  Protestant  and  Catholic  ;  and  every 
where  they  have  stimulated  the  intellect,  but  they  have  left  the 
moral  nature  untouched.  They  satisfied  every  aspiration  of 
the  understanding;  but  when  the  sinner  inquired,  How  shall 
man  be  just  with  God  ?  they  gave  him  no  answer.  They  found 
man  under  the  bondage  of  sin,  the  slave  of  passion,  drunk 
with  sensuality;  and  they  left  him  having  no  hope  and  with- 
out God  in  the  world. 

I  might  easily  pursue  this  subject  farther,  by  presenting 
illustrations  from  other  periods  of  civilization.  But  it  is 
useless.  The  experiment,  under  what  circumstances  soever 


116      PREPARATION    FOR    THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH. 

it  has  been  tried,  has  led  to  the  same  result.  Had  it  been 
possible  to  deliver  man  from  the  moral  condition  in  which  he 
is  every  where  found,  by  any  exertion  of  the  human  intellect, 
it  would  have  been  done  by  the  men  to  whose  labors  I  have 
just  alluded.  But  it  was  not  possible.  The  direction  which 
the  human  intellect  has  always  taken,  confirms  the  truth  of 
the  declaration  of  St.  Paul,  —  "  The  world  by  wisdom  knew  not 
God."  Nay,  we  see,  from  the  instances  to  which  we  have 
referred,  that  a  true  conception  of  the  character  of  God,  and 
of  our  relations  and  obligations  to  him,  is  distasteful  to  the 
human  mind.  Socrates  taught  more  important  truth  on  these 
subjects  than  all  the  other  heathen  writers  combined.  For 
doing  this  the  common  people  persecuted  him  to  death,  and 
the  philosophers  whom  he  had  taught,  instead  of  pursuing  his 
doctrines  to  their  natural  results,  treated  them  merely  as  the 
starting-point  for  metaphysical  speculations.  Thus  is  also 
confirmed  that  other  declaration  of  the  apostle,  "  They  did 
not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  but  when  they 
knew  God,  they  glorified  him  not  as  God,  neither  were  thank- 
ful, but  became  vain  m  their  imaginations,  and  their  foolish 
heart  was  darkened."  It  thus  became  manifest  that  man  did 
not  sin  by  reason  either  of  ignorance  or  of  mental  imbecility, 
and  that  no  attainment  of  intellectual  power  could  change  his 
propensity  to  evil.  Here,  then,  from  another  point  of  view, 
was  made  evident  the  helplessness  of  our  moral  condition  ; 
and  thus  it  was  shown  that,  without  some  special  effort  of 
divine  mercy,  we  must  ever  abide  under  the  condemnation 
which  we  had  incurred. 

But  one  other  hope  remained.  It  has  been  said  that  the 
moral  and  aesthetic  elements  of  the  human  character  are 
nearly  allied,  if,  indeed,  they  be  not  identical ;  that,  at  least, 
the  beautiful  and  the  good  are  twin  sisters  ;  and  hence  it  has 
been  conjectured  that  the  cultivation  of  the  taste  must  lead  to 
reformation  in  the  moral  nature  of  man. 

The  period  that  elapsed  previously  to  the  advent  of  the 
Messiah,  furnished  an  opportunity  for  the  trial  of  this  form 


PREPARATION    FOR    THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH.      117 

of  the  moral  experiment,  of  which  we  have  been  speaking. 
The  age  of  Socrates,  and  Plato,  and  Aristotle,  was  the  golden 
age  of  the  arts  of  Greece.  Neither  before  nor  since  this 
time,  has  the  marble  been  ever  chiselled  into  forms  so  instinct 
with  majesty  and  loveliness.  It  is  probable  that  painting  had 
attained  to  similar  perfection,  though,  unfortunately,  none  of 
its  productions  have  come  down  to  us.  Architecture  then 
had  exhausted,  in  one  direction  at  least,  all  the  forms  of 
beauty  and  grandeur  of  which  the  mind  can  conceive.  Poetry 
had  already  furnished  those  faultless  models  of  verse  on 
which  all  succeeding  generations  have  gazed  with  reverential 
despair.  Eloquence  then,  with  a  power  which  has  never 
since  been  equalled, 

"Wielded  at  "will  that  fierce  democracie, 
Shook  the  arsenal,  and  fulmined  over  Greece 
To  Macedon  and  Artaxerxes'  throne." 

But  had  this  wonderful  development  of  the  taste  any  power 
to  reform  the  moral  character  of  man  ?  Far  from  it.  Taste 
became  itself  the  pander  to  vice.  The  very  fountains  of 
literature  were  defiled.  Poetry  became  at  last  the  stimulant 
to  undisguised  licentiousness.  Painting  and  statuary  lent 
their  aid  to  render  unblushing  vice  attractive,  and  to  fascinate 
the  taste  with  whatever  could  defile  the  conscience.  The 
eye  could  scarcely  be  opened  in  any  street  of  a  Grecian  or  a 
Roman  city,  without  resting  upon  some  finished  specimen  of 
art,  which  filled  the  imagination  with  all  that  was  morally 
revolting.  Taste,  revelling  in  licentiousness,  presided  over 
every  department  of  the  arts.  Its  dominion  was  not  confined 
to  places  of  public  resort.  It  painted  the  walls  of  dressing- 
rooms  and  chambers  ;  it  sculptured  the  statuary  of  private 
gardens  ;  nay,  it  fashioned  personal  ornaments  of  the  young 
and  old,  of  the  daughter  and  the  matron.  And  thus  it  became 
evident  that  taste,  far  from  exerting  any  power  of  moral 
reformation,  tainted  with  our  own  corruption,  disseminates 
more  widely,  and  renders  yet  more  intensely  fatal,  the  poison 
with  which  it  is  itself  infected. 


118      PREPARATION    FOR   THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH. 

t> 

Scholars  and  artists  have  mourned  for  ages  over  the  almost 
universal  destruction  of  the  works  of  ancient  genius.  I  sup- 
pose that  many  a  second-rate  city,  at  the  time  of  Christ,  pos- 
sessed a  collection  of  works  of  surpassing  beauty,  which 
could  not  be  equalled  by  all  the  specimens  now  existing 
that  have  yet  been  discovered.  The  Alexandrian  library  is 
believed  to  have  contained  a  greater  treasure  of  intellectual 
riches  than  has  ever  since  been  hoarded  in  a  single  city. 
These,  we  know,  have  all  vanished  from  the  earth.  The 
Apollo  Belvidere  and  the  Venus  de  Medicis  stand  in  almost 
solitary  grandeur,  to  remind  us  of  the  perfection  to  which  the 
plastic  art  of  the  ancients  had  attained.  The  Alexandrian 
library  furnished  fuel  for  years  for  the  baths  of  illiterate 
Moslems.  I  used  myself  frequently  to  wonder  why  it  had 
pleased  God  to  blot  out  of  existence  these  magnificent  pro- 
ductions of  ancient  genius.  It  seemed  to  me  strange  that 
the  pall  of  oblivion  should  thus  be  thrown  over  all  to  which 
man,  in  the  flower  of  his  age,  had  given  birth.  But  the 
solution  of  this  mystery  is  found,  I  think,  in  the  remains  of 
Herculaneum  and  Pompeii.  We  there  discover  that  every 
work  of  man  was  so  penetrated  by  corruption,  every  produc- 
tion of  genius  was  so  denied  with  uncleanness,  that  God,  in 
introducing  a  better  dispensation,  determined  to  cleanse  the 
world  from  the  pollution  of  preceding  ages.  As  when  all 
flesh  had  corrupted  his  way,  he  purified  the  world  by  the 
waters  of  a  flood,  so,  when  genius  had  covered  the  earth 
with  images  of  sin,  he  overwhelmed  the  works  of  ancient 
civilization  with  a  deluge  of  barbarism,  and  consigned  the 
most  splendid  monuments  of  literature  and  art  to  almost 
universal  oblivion.  It  was  too  bad  to  exist ;  and  he  swept  it 
all  away  with  the  besom  of  destruction. 

You  see  that  for  four  thousand  years  this  experiment  was 
continued  upon  the  moral  character  of  man.  The  point  to 
be  determined  was,  as  we  have  supposed,  whether  man,  left 
to  the  conditions  of  his  first  probation,  would  ever  recover 
himself  from  his  apostasy  from  God.  The  experiment  was 


PREPARATION   FOR   THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH.       119 

tried  under  every  form  of  government,  under  the  most  favor- 
able conditions  for  intellectual  culture,  and  during  the  period 
of  the  most  perfect  development  of  human  taste.  But  under 
none  of  these  influences  was  there  exhibited  the  remotest 
tendency  to  moral  reformation.  Hence  it  was  practically 
demonstrated  that  "  the  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God  ; " 
and  that,  without  some  merciful  divine  interposition,  the  con- 
dition of  man  was  hopeless.  It  was  at  the  close  of  this  pro- 
tracted experiment,  when  Rome,  following  the  example  of 
Greece,  had  sunk  into  gross  licentiousness ;  when  men  had 
not  only  lost  the  knowledge  of  God,  but  had  become  univer- 
sally corrupt  beyond  all  previous  example ;  when,  as  it  would 
seem,  nothing  further  remained  but  for  God  to  destroy  our 
race  and  blot  out  the  memory  of  man  forever,  —  it  was  then 
that  the  "  fulness  of  time  had  come,"  that  God  sent  forth  his 
Son,  made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the  law,  to  announce 
that  a  new  probation  had  been  granted  to  us,  and  to  utter  that 
astonishing  truth,  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  sent  his 
only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 

It  was  my  original  intention  to  have  illustrated,  at  some 
length,  the  results  of  the  moral  trial  to  which  the  Jews  were 
subjected  previously  'r  the  advent  of  the  Messiah.  I  have, 
however,  already  occupied  the  time  ordinarily  allotted  to  a 
discourse,  and  I  will  therefore  allude  to  this  part  of  the  sub- 
ject in  very  few  words. 

The  same  experiment  was  made  upon  the  Jews  as  upon  the 
Gentiles,  but  it  was  made  under  vastly  more  favorable  cir- 
cumstances. They  were  selected  and  set  apart  from  the 
idolatrous  nations  around  them  ;  they  were  rendered  a  pecu- 
liar people  by  a  burdensome  but  imposing  ritual ;  they  were 
the  sole  depositaries  of  the  law  which  God  had  given  to  our 
race  ;  and  their  history,  from  the  time  of  the  call  of  Abraham, 
was  replete  with  most  astonishing  illustrations  of  the  attributes 
of  God,  whether  exhibited  in  judgment  or  in  mercy.  It  was, 
however,  essentially  a  dispensation  of  law.  It  declared  the 


120      PREPARATION    FOR   THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH. 

precept  and  the  penalty,  the  reward  for  obedience  and  the 
punishment  for  sin.  Its  language  was,  "  Indignation  and 
wrath,  tribulation  and  anguish,  upon  every  soul  of  man  that 
doeth  evil ;  but  glory,  and  honor,  and  peace,  to  every  man 
that  worketh  good."  Having  given  these  precepts,  there  it 
rested.  1  know  that  it  also  foreshadowed  the  blessings  of  the 
new  dispensation ;  but  its  teaching,  in  this  respect,  was  enig- 
inatical,  and  could  have  taken  no  permanent  hold  upon  the 
national  mind.  It  did  not  reveal  the  manner  in  which  "  God 
could  be  just  and  the  justifier  of  him  that  believeth  in  Jesus." 
Hence,  like  the  dispensation  of  natural  religion,  it  was  a  dis- 
pensation of  law,  yet  of  law  plainly  and  evidently  set  forth. 
It  left  man  with  a  clear  knowledge  of  his  duty,  to  act  with 
no  other  impulse  than  that  derived  from  the  consequences 
of  his  action.  The  failure  that  ensued  cannot,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Gentiles,  be  learned  from  the  volumes  of  contempo- 
raneous literature,  for  in  the  case  of  the  Hebrews  such  works 
do  not  exist.  The  apostle  Paul,  however,  declares  that,  at 
his  time,  they  had  become  even  more  corrupt  than  the  hea- 
then themselves.  While  they  boasted  of  their  knowledge  of 
the  law,  "  through  breaking  the  law  they  dishonored  God," 
insomuch  that  "  through  them,  the  name  of  God  was  blas- 
phemed among  the  Gentiles."  Thus  it  became  evident  that 
our  whole  race  —  Jew  and  Gentile  —  was  under  sin  ;  that 
hope  of  reformation,  from  any  power  within  ourselves,  was 
groundless  ;  and  hence,  in  the  words  of  the  apostle,  that 
"  by  the  deeds  of  the  law  no  flesh  could  be  justified." 

From  this  view  of  the  subject,  I  think,  then,  that  a  reason 
may  be  discovered  why  the  Messiah  did  not  appear  in  the 
beginning  to  take  away  sin.  The  delay  of  his  advent  was 
for  the  purpose  of  rendering  it  practically  evident  that  our 
moral  condition,  under  a  system  of  law,  was  helpless  ;  that 
there  existed  in  our  nature  no  recuperative  energy ;  that 
having  broken  loose  from  his  obligations  to  God,  the  course 
of  man  was  in  the  line  of  perpetual  retrocession  ;  and  that, 
without  the  introduction  of  some  new  condition  into  the 


PREPARATION    FOIX   THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH.      12  i 

elements  of  his  probation,  there  remained  for  him  nothing 
but  a  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment.  When  this  had  been 
made  evident,  under  every  phase,  both  of  civilization  and 
barbarism,  under  every  form  of  government,  and  under 
every  degree,  both  of  intellectual  and  aesthetic  development, 
then  "  the  fulness  of  time  had  come,  and  God  sent  forth  his 
Son." 

11 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  ADVENT  OF 
THE   MESSIAH. 


PART    II. 

*'  PREPARE  YE  THE  WAT  OF  THE  LORD,  MAKE  STRAIGHT  IN  THE  DESERT 
A  HIGHWAY  FOR  OUR  GOD.  EVERY  VALLEY  SHALL  BE  EXALTED,  AND 
EVERY  MOUNTAIN  AND  HILL  SHALL  BE  MADE  LOW  ;  AND  THE  CROOKED 
SHALL  BE  MADE  STRAIGHT  AND  THE  ROUGH  PLACES  PLAIN,  AND  THE 
GLORY  OF  THE  LORD  SHALL  BE  REVEALED,  AND  ALL  FLESH  SHALL 
SEE  IT  TOGETHER,  FOR  THE  MOUTH  OF  THE  LORD  HATH  SPOKEN  IT." 

Isaiah  xl.  3,  4. 

IN  the  last  discourse,  I  attempted  to  illustrate  the  doctrine 
that  the  advent  of  the  Messiah  could  not  have  occurred  imme- 
diately after  the  apostasy.  Various  events  must  have  trans- 
pired before  the  fulness  of  time  could  come.  Before  God 
publicly  interfered,  if  I  may  so  say,  with  the  conditions  of  the 
first  probation,  he  chose  to  show  by  experiment  that  such  inter- 
ference was  necessary.  It  thus  became  evident  that  neither 
in  the  social,  intellectual,  nor  sesthetic  departments  of  human 
nature,  did  there  exist  the  elements  adequate  to  restore  us  to 
virtue  and  piety.  Under  all  forms  of  government,  through 
every  grade  of  intellectual  progress,  and  in  the  midst  of  the 
most  successful  cultivation  of  taste,  man's  moral  tendency  was 
ever  downward,  until  he  had  arrived  at  so  universal  depravity, 
that  the  Deity,  in  ushering  in  a  new  dispensation,  consigned  to 
oblivion  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  intellectual  labors  of 
preceding  generations. 

In  this  manner  was  it  practically  demonstrated  that  a  reme- 


PREPARATION    FOR   THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH.      123 

dial  dispensation  was  absolutely  necessary.  But  these  sugges- 
tions have  by  no  means  exhausted  the  subject.  -  If  we  look  at 
it  from  another  point  of  view,  we  shall  see  that  a  positive 
preparation  of  the  race  itself  was  necessary,  before  the  plan  of 
redemption  could  be  successfully  revealed.  This  preparation 
was  gradually  going  forward  at  the  same  time  that  our  moral 
helplessness  was  so  amply  illustrated.  It  is  to  this  series  of 
events  that  the  prophet  alludes  in  the  beautiful  language  which 
I  have  selected  for  the  text.  He  represents  the  Messiah  as  a 
conquering  prince  appearing  to  take  possession  of  his  newly- 
acquired  dominions.  It  was  customary  among  Oriental  nations 
to  render  such  an  occasion  in  the  most  signal  manner  impres- 
sive. Every  road  by  which  the  conqueror  was  to  proceed  was 
put  in  perfect  repair ;  obstructions  were  all  removed ;  the 
valleys  were  exalted  and  the  hills  were  levelled  ;  the  crooked' 
were  made  straight  and  the  rough  places  smooth,  so  that,  when 
the  triumphant  procession  appeared,  its  progress  might  be 
wholly  uninterrupted.  Under  this  figurative  language  the 
prophet  conveys  to  us  the  idea  that  before  the  glory  of  the 
Lord  shall  be  revealed,  all  things  must  be  put  under  requisition 
for  the  purpose  of  rendering  the  event  more  illustrious  and  its 
results  more  universal.  In  other  words,  we  are  thus  taught 
that  the  previous  history  of  our  world  was  overruled  by  infinite 
wisdom  with  special  reference  to  this  event ;  and  that  when  the 
revolutions  of  four  thousand  years  had  completed  this  mighty 
preparation,  the  fulness  of  time  arrived,  and  God  sent  forth 
his  Son. 

In  order  to  obtain  a  correct  view  of  this  subject,  it  will  be 
proper  to  observe  the  conditions  which  seem  necessary  *  to  the 
successful  promulgation  of  the  gospel,  and  the  manner  in 
which  these  conditions  were  fulfilled  in  the  history  of  the  world 
previously  to  the  advent  of  the  Messiah. 

If  we  reflect  upon  the  nature  of  the  Christian  revelation,  I 

*  The  meaning  of  necessity,  as  here  used,  is  explained  in  a  note  to 
the  preceding  sermon,  p.  110. 


124*  PREPARATION    FOR   THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH. 

think  we  shall  be  convinced  that  its  conceptions  belong  to  an 
advanced  period  of  civilization.  It  addresses  itself,  I  may  say, 
exclusively  to  the  spiritual  nature  of  man.  But,  in  the  earlier 
periods  of  our  race,  our  conceptions  are  all  from  without ;  they 
have  to  do  almost  exclusively  with  sensible  objects.  This  is 
evident  from  the  history  of  all  language.  Conceptions  from 
within  belong  to  a  later  period,  and  only  appear  in  the  progress 
of  civilization.  Hence  the  ideas  made  known  to  us  in  the 
New  Testament  could  scarcely  have  been  comprehended, 
until  man  had  passed  from  the  region  of  objective  and  become 
familiar  with  the  region  of  subjective  thought.  The  gospel  has 
to  do  with  thought,  feeling,  sentiment,  motive,  and  all  their 
various  attributes  ;  and  it  could  not  be  well  understood  until  the 
mind  of  man  had  become  somewhat  at  home  in  these  con- 
"ceptions. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  Christian  religion  addresses  itself  to  the 
moral  nature,  the  conscience  of  man.  It  is  to  this  faculty  that 
its  commands  are  specially  addressed.  The  harmony  of  its 
precepts  with  the  law,  originally  written  there,  is  one  of  the 
universal  proofs  of  its  authenticity.  It  is  for  the  purpose  of 
providing  a  remedy  to  the  moral  disorders  of  the  soul,  that  the 
gospel  is  revealed.  The  need  of  this  remedy  can  only  be 
made  evident  as  the  universality  and  intensity  of  this  disease  arc 
discovered.  Hence  1  think  it  will  be  seen  that  a  remedial  dis- 
pensation would  naturally  be  delayed,  until  the  moral  character 
of  man,  both  individual  and  social,  had  been  fully  displayed  ; 
and  mankind  had  become  in  some  degree  capable  of  appre- 
ciating the  facts  thus  presented  to  their  notice. 

But,  besides  this,  the  gospel  is  a  revelation  communicated  to 
man  by  language,  and  its  authenticity,  as  is  meet,  is  attested 
by  miracles.  Now,  I  think  that  considerable  progress  must  have 
been  made  in  civilization  before  such  testimony  could  be  given 
as  we  would  be  willing  to  receive  on  a  question  of  so  vital 
importance.  Until  the  laws  of  nature  are  to  some  extent 
known,  we  cannot  determine  whether  the  Creator  has  or  has 
not  in  a  particular  case  departed  from  them.  Savages,  hi  these 


PREPARATION    FOR    THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH.       125 

respects,  possess  but  the  intellect  of  children.  They  seem 
almost  to  court  deception,  and  we  admit  their  testimony  with 
doubt  and  hesitation.  Hence  we  pay  very  little  respect  to  the 
early  history  of  the  primitive  nations.  An  ignorant  age  is 
governed  by  the  imagination  rather  than  by  the  reason,  and  we 
look  upon  its  traditions  rather  as  allegorical  pictures  than  indu- 
bitable statements  of  matters  of  fact.  The  fact  here  to  be 
substantiated  is  no  other  than  this  —  the  Messiah,  God  manifest 
in  the  flesh,  appeared  on  our  earth  to  teach  us  the  way  of  life, 
and  to  offer  himself  up  as  a  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  mankind. 
I  ask,  Could  any  one  believe  so  stupendous  a  statement  as  this, 
upon  the  testimony  of  a  barbarous  age  ? 

And  this  leads  us  to  observe,  again,  that  a  revelation  from 
God  to  man,  informing  him  of  this  wonderful  change  in  the 
conditions  of  his  probation,  —  a  revelation  designed  for  all  ages 
to  the  end  of  time,  and  destined  to  work  a  perfect  transformation 
in  the  moral  character  of  our  race,  —  could  not  have  been  com- 
pleted until  language,  that  most  mysterious  of  all  the  products 
of  the  human  intellect,  had  arrived  at  a  considerable  degree  of 
perfection.  It  was  necessary  that  the  doctrines  and  motives 
peculiar  to  the  new  dispensation  should  be  promulgated  with 
all  possible  explicitness,  and  yet  guarded  from  all  tendency 
either  to  incompleteness  or  excess.  No  medium  of  communi- 
cation would  be  competent  to '  the  transmission  of  such  all- 
important  truth,  but  a  language  capable  of  expressing  the  most 
delicate  modifications  of  human  thought ;  and  so  perfect  in  its 
construction,  that  its  meaning,  in  subsequent  ages,  might  be 
determined  by  the  most  definite  laws  of  exegetical  inquiry. 

To  understand  the  necessity  of  which  we  speak,  it  is  only 
requisite  to  remember  the  ordeal  through  which  the  Christian 
revelation  has  passed  during  the  period  that  has  elapsed  since 
the  days  of  the  apostles.  There  is  scarcely  a  doctrine  which 
it  contains  that  has  not  frequently  been  made  the  subject  of 
earnest,  I  had  almost  said  of  bitter  controversy.  Its  enemies 
have  denied  the  truth  of  every  one  of  its  assertions,  and  its 
professed  friends  have,  in  countless  instances,  endeavored  to 
11* 


126   PREPARATION  FOR  THE  ADVENT  OF  MESSIAH. 

interpret  its  doctrines  in  such  manner  as  to  gratify  their  lusi 
of  civil  or  ecclesiastical  power.  Every  atrocity,  which  has 
for  ages  been  perpetrated  by  either  lay  or  clerical  despots 
throughout  Christendom,  has  claimed  the  authority  of  some 
passage  from  the  word  of  God.  And,  on  the  contrary,  men, 
have  always  been  delivered  from  despotism  by  stripping  off 
from  the  Scriptures  the  covering  by  which  they  had  been 
veiled,  and  making  them  to  speak  out  plainly  the  simple 
truth  of  the  Most  High.  Now,  unless  the  gospel  had  been 
revealed  in  a  language  capable  of  expressing  the  truth,  the 
whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  and  of  so  expressing  it 
that  the  meaning  of  every  -word  could  be  verified,  it  would 
surely,  at  this  distance  of  time,  have  been  scarcely  possible  for 
even  a  candid  man  to  discover  what  had  been  really  revealed. 
Suppose  that,  eighteen  hundred  years  since,  the  Gospels  had 
been  written  in  a  language  similar  to  that  of  our  aboriginal 
Indians,  —  who,  at  this  age,  would  pretend  to  be  able  to  interpret 
it  ?  Nay,  I  doubt  if  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Testament  could 
have  been  given  to  all  subsequent  ages,  even  in  the  ancient 
Hebrew.  How  could  the  subtle  reasoning,  and  the  wide 
generalizations  of  the  apostle  Paul,  have  been  conveyed  in  a 
language  which  had  attained  its  highest  perfection  in  the  time 
of  Moses  and  of  Job,  and  which  was  adapted  only  to  an  age 
of  primitive  manners  and  objective  thought  ?  Nay,  had  the 
revelation  for  all  ages  been  delivered  in  Hebrew,  I  doubt 
whether,  at  this  late  period,  its  meaning  could  be  verified.  The 
Hebrew  possessed  no  literature  save  that  which  existed  in  the 
sacred  books  themselves.  Hence,  when  a  difficulty  in  inter- 
pretation occurred,  there  would  have  been  no  contempora- 
neous authority  to  which  we  might  appeal  for  illustration.  I 
think  that  these  considerations  will  be  sufficient  to  convince  us 
that  this  language  was  an  inadequate  medium  for  the  trans- 
mission of  a  revelation  that  was  destined  to  endure  to  the  end 
of  time,  and,  ihus  enduring,  to  regenerate  a  world. 

If  we  reflect  upon  these  plain  conditions,  I  think  it  will  be 
evident  that  at  no  era  preceding  that  of  the  advent  could  the 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  ADVENT  OF  MESSIAH.   127 

new  dispensation  have  been  with  so  much  propriety  ushered 
in.  And  still  more,  I  think  that,  by  a  slight  reference  to  pre- 
vious events,  we  shall  be  led  to  believe  that  the  hand  of  God 
may  be  distinctly  traced  in  directing  the  course  of  civilization 
with  respect  to  this  great  transaction. 

Amidst  all  the  agitations  of  society,  throughout  all  the  over- 
turnings  of  empire,  the  human  mind,  during  this  long  period, 
had  been  gradually  attaining  maturity.  Each  nation,  during 
its  brief  existence,  had  either  added  something  to  the  stock  of 
human  knowledge,  or  made  some  contrioution  to  the  materials 
for  human  thought.  Every  revolution  had  illustrated  in  some 
new  phase  the  principles  of  conduct,  and  had  bequeathed  the 
lesson  to  succeeding  generations.  Prosperity  and  adversity, 
war  and  peace,  despotism  and  freedom,  anarchy  and  order, 
had  tended  to  widen  and  deepen  the  course  of  philosophical 
speculation.  The  very  wickedness  of  man,  overturning  em- 
pires and  dissolving  the  cement  by  which  the  elements  of 
society  are  held  in  cohesion,  had  obliged  men  to  reflect  more 
or  less  upon  moral  cause  and  effect.  Patriotism,  as  well  as 
natural  virtue,  nay,  self-interest,  as  well  as  the  love  of  right, 
had,  to  some  extent,  forced  men  to  turn  their  eyes  upon  this 
changeless  plague-spot  of  our  common  nature.  The  very  love 
of  power,  so  rife  in  all  ages,  had  directed  attention  to  those 
spiritual  impulses  by  which  all  outward  action  is  modified,  and 
from  which  alone  it  frequently  proceeds.  From  all  these 
sources,  the  mind  of  man,  at  the  time  of  our  Savior,  had  be- 
come a  subject  of  very  general  investigation ;  and  its  various 
processes  had  been  examined  with  acumen  and  earnestness. 
It  is  also  probable  that  this  kind  of  inquiry  was  prosecuted  with 
greater  vigor  on  account  of  the  existing  state  of  religious  opin- 
ion among  the  ancient  nations.  The  system  of  mythology 
had  long  since  lost  its  power  over  the  public  mind  ;  and  hence 
the  priesthood  dared  not  protect  it  from  contempt  by  the  exer- 
tion of  physical  force.  Let  a  man  believe  what  he  chose,  or 
advocate  what  he  pleased,  in  matters  of  pure  science  or  intel- 
lectual speculation,  the  mythology  had  little  to  do  with  it. 


128      PREPARATION    FOR    THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH. 

Hence  the  mind,  left  mainly  to  its  own  impulses,  pursued 
thought  wherever  it  led ;  and  hence  arose  that  prodigious 
mental  activity,  that  far-reaching  love  of  research,  that  fearless 
range  of  speculation,  which  distinguished  the  Augustan  age  of 
Rome,  but  more  especially  the  age  of  Pericles  in  Greece. 
Nay,  Greece  and  Italy,  during  the  universal  prevalence  of 
pagan  idolatry,  enjoyed  the  blessing  of  soul-liberty  in  a  much 
higher  degree  than  they  have  done  for  ages  under  the  domin- 
ion of  the  (so  called)  Christian  hierarchy,  by  which  these 
nations  have  so  long  been  enslaved. 

But  while  this  progress  was  so  rapidly  made  in  the  intel- 
lectual development  of  the  ancient  nations,  specially  of  the 
Greeks,  mis  latter  people  was,  at  the  same  time,  cultivating, 
with  unparalleled  success  a  language  which  has  been  for  ages 
the  admiration  of  the  human  race.  It  is  a  language  which 
scholars  have  ever  since  considered  the  most  perfect  vehicle 
of  thought  that  human  intelligence  has  yet  invented.  Com- 
bining the  opposite  extremes  of  strength  and  flexibility ; 
capable  alike  of  fixing  with  precision  the  most  refined  dis- 
tinctions in  metaphysics,  and  of  giving  utterance  to  the  ten- 
derest  emotions  of  sentiment ;  bursting  forth  now  in  all  the 
thunder  of  resistless  eloquence,  and  now  warbling  in  numbers 
softer  than  the  breathings  of  maternal  love ;  affording  free 
scope  to  the  giant  spirit  of  Demosthenes,  and  yet  yielding 
itself  up  to  utter,  as  if  in  sport,  the  songs  of  Anacreon ;  in  its 
youth  pouring  forth  in  matchless  verse  the  epic  of  Homer, 
and  in  its  manhood  clothing  the  conceptions  of  Sophocles  and 
Pindar  with  perennial  beauty ;  unexhausted  by  the  boundless 
imagination  of  Plato,  and  yet  laying  down  with  mathematical 
exactness  the  canons  of  Aristotle,  —  it  seems  to  have  been 
created  for  the  purpose  of  transmitting  to  all  coming  time  that 
spiritual  truth  by  which  a  world  should  be  created  anew. 
And  yet  more :  This  language  had  naturally  so  attracted  to 
itself  whatever  was  valuable  in  science  or  delightful  in  litera- 
ture, that  many  of  its  greatest  works  could  not  be  lost. 
Hence,  whatever  has  at  any  time  been  written  in  it  can  even 


PREPARATION   FOR   THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH.     129 

at  the  present  day  bo  definitely  interpreted.  Hence,  also, 
wherever  in  the  old  world  the  human  mind  has  awaked  from 
the  slumber  of  ignorance,  the  knowledge  of  this  language  has 
been  revived.  And  it  deserves  to  be  remarked,  that  those 
remains  of  it  that  have  come  down  to  us,  are  specially  rich  in 
the  expression  of  spiritual  conceptions  —  in  terms  which  are 
most  readily  adapted  to  illustrate  the  truths  of  revelation. 
Hence,  when  the  new  and  astonishing  doctrines  of  the  gospel 
were  to  be  promulgated,  hardly  a  term  required  to  be  modi- 
fied in  order  to  adapt  this  language  to  the  purpose.  St.  Paul 
was  esteemed  by  Longinus  as  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
of  Grecian  orators ;  and  the  discourses  of  many  of  the  earlier 
Christian  writers  are  numbered  among  the  purest  specimens 
of  this  remarkable  tongue.  Thus  was  the  language  prepared 
ill  which  the  gospel  of  our  salvation  was  to  be  written,  and  by 
which  it  was  to  be  transmitted  to  succeeding  generations  to  the 
end  of  time. 

And  here,  in  passing,  let  us  pause,  for  a  moment,  to  inquire, 
by  whom  was  this  language  enriched  by  every  form  of  ex- 
pression, and  endowed  with  so  remarkable  a  power  of  exact- 
ness and  precision  ?  It  was  by  poets  who  sung  of  barbarian 
wars,  of  the  contests  of  fabulous  gods,  and  the  loves  of  unholy 
sensualists ;  by  historians  who  wrote  for  fame,  and  orators  who 
contended  for  power;  by  philosophers  who  inquired  not  for 
truth,  and  sophists  who  taught  falsehood  for  hire.  Even  these 
last,  by  their  endless  disputations,  their  subtile  distinctions, 
and  their  crafty  sophistry,  gave  a  fixedness  to  language  which 
it  could  by  no  other  means  have  attained.  Thus  is  it  ever  in 
the  government  of  God.  He  makes  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise 
him,  and  the  remainder  of  wrath  he  restrains.  '  Thus,  while 
men,  utterly  forgetful  of  him,  were  following  each  one  the 
desires  and  devices  of  his  own  heart,  they  were  accomplishing 
his  purposes,  and  preparing  the  way  for -the  coming  of  Him  who 
was  the  desire  of  all  nations.  Thus,  while  God  allows  all  his 
moral  creatures  to  act  as  they  will,  by  far-reaching  wisdom,  he 
overrules  all  things  for  his  glory,  and  causes  wicked,  sensual, 


130     PREPARATION    FOR    THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH. 

and  atheistic  men  to  subserve  the  purposes  of  virtue  and  right- 
eousness and  true  godliness. 

Such  was  the  preparation  necessary  in  order  to  prepare  a 
language  in  which  God  should  reveal  to  us  the  doctrines  of  the 
new  dispensation,  and  usher  in  the  hope  of  everlasting  life. 
But  this  was  not  all.  It  was  also  necessary  that  this  language 
should  be  diffused  throughout  the  civilized  world.  This  was 
also  accomplished. 

At  the  period  in  which  the  Greek  language  had  attained  to 
its  highest  perfection,  Alexander,  frequently  called  the  Great, 
was  born.  This  remarkable  man,  perhaps  the  most  remarka- 
ble conqueror  whose  history  has  yet  been  written,  immediately 
after  his  accession  to  the  throne  of  Macedon,  having  subdued 
the  states  of  Greece  that  had  dared  to  resist  his  sway,  com- 
menced that  series  of  victories  which  have  rendered  his  name 
immortal.  Having  overrun  that  portion  of  Europe  that  lay  to 
the  eastward  of  Greece,  he  carried  his  conquests  into  Asia ; 
and,  in  a  few  years,  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Palestine,  Egypt, 
Assyria,  and  Persia,  were  his  tributary  provinces.  He  even 
penetrated  into  India ;  and,  but  for  the  resistance  of  his  own 
soldiers,  would  have  planted  his  standards  upon  the  banks  of 
the  Ganges.  The  theatre  of  these  conquests  comprehended 
by  far  the  most  populous  and  highly  civilized  portions  of  the 
then  known  world.  Every  where  throughout  these  vast 
regions,  he  established  the  Grecian  authority,  and  by  conse- 
quence introduced  the  Greek  language.  Every  where  he 
brought  the  science  and  intelligence,  the  courage  and  freedom, 
the  manners  and  arts  of  Greece  into  contact  with  the  puerile 
thought,  the  servile  timidity,  and  barbarian  wealth  of  Oriental 
civilization.  Power  and  wisdom,  when  they  strike  their  roots 
into  such  a  soil,  are  not  easily  eradicated.  Greek,  in  all 
these  regions,  soon  became  the  language  of  intelligence,  rank, 
and  station.  From  the  higher  classes  it  was  gradually  dissem- 
inated among  the  middle  ranks  of  society ;  and  hence,  among 
these  countless  millions,  it  had  soon  established  a  universal 
sway.  Of  the  extent  to  which  it  had  prevailed  we  may  learn 


PREPARATION    FOR   THE    ADVENT  OF    MESSIAH.      131 

from  the  fact,  that  as  early  as  the  year  285  before  Christ,  it 
had  become  necessary  to  translate  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures 
into  Greek,  for  the  use  of  the  Jews  residing  in  Alexandria. 
Greek  had  already  become  more  familiar  to  them  than  the 
language  of  their  ancestors,  and,  lest  they  should  lose  their 
knowledge  of  the  word  of  God,  it  was  rendered,  for  their  bene- 
fit, into  a  tongue  that  had  become  to  them  vernacular.  Flour- 
ishing schools  of  Grecian  philosophy  were  established  in 
several  of  the  cities  of  Asia  Minor.  Among  these,  Tarsus,  the 
birthplace  of  the  apostle  Paul,  at  an  early  period,  obtained  no 
inconsiderable  preeminence.  These,  like  so  many  centres  of 
illumination,  diffused  on  every  side  the  light  of  western  civili- 
zation, and  rendered  a  knowledge  of  the  Greek  language  a 
necessary  attainment  for  every  educated  man.  These  remarks, 
however,  as  you  will  perceive,  have  respect  principally  to  the 
countries  to  the  eastward  of  Greece. 

With  the  death  of  Alexander,  the  political  preeminence  of 
Greece  was  nearly  at  an  end.  She,  however,  still  continued 
immeasurably  in  advance  of  the  surrounding  nations,  in  the 
arts,  in  science,  and  in  civilization.  As  the  Roman  empire 
was  rising  in  the  west,  her  citizens  felt  the  necessity  of  intel- 
lectual cultivation  as  well  as  of  martial  glory ;  and  they  began 
to  resort  to  Athens,  the  seat  of  knowledge  and  the  cherished 
abode  of  eloquence  and  philosophy.  Thus  the  poets  and  ora- 
tors of  Rome  first  imbibed  a  taste  for  elegance  of  language  and 
refinement  of  thought.  At  last  Greece  was  subdued  by  the 
arms  of  Italy,  and  Achaia  was  added  to  the  catalogue  of  Roman 
provinces.  From  this  time,  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  the 
universal  influx  of  Grecian  literature  into  Rome.  The  statues, 
the  paintings,  the  poetry,  the  eloquence,  and  the  philosophy  of 
Greece,  were  transferred  from  the  banks  of  the  Ilyssus  to  the 
banks  of  the  Tiber.  Roman  authors  aspired  to  little  else  than 
to  copy  into  their  own  language  those  models  which  they  ceased 
not  to  study  with  an  almost  idolatrous  admiration.  In  fact, 
Roman  literature  became  almost  a  mere  reproduction  of  those 


132     PREPARATION    FOR    THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH. 

works  which  were  universally  acknowledged  to  have  attained 
the  perfection  of  aesthetic  excellence. 

The  result  of  all  this  is  very  easily  conceived.  The  Latin 
language  was  itself  modified  by  the  literature  which  it  imitated, 
and  became  the  second  in  power  of  the  languages  of  antiquity. 
But  this  was  not  all.  Greek,  throughout  the  Roman  empire, 
became  the  language  of  educated  men.  Hence,  when  Paul 
addressed  the  Roman  governor,  Claudius  Lysias,  in  this  lan- 
guage at  Jerusalem,  it  was  at  once  perceived  that  he  was  a 
person  of  consideration,  and  not  the  lawless  freebooter  for 
whom  he  had  been  at  first  mistaken.  Thus,  also,  Caesar 
relates,  that  on  one  occasion,  when  he  wished  to  communicate 
important  private  intelligence  to  one  of  his  lieutenants,  in  a 
besieged  city,  he  wrote  a  letter  in  Greek,  and  directed  his 
messenger  to  attach  it  to  an  arrow,  and  shoot  it  over  the  walls. 
This  language,  he  knew,  would  be  unintelligible  to  the  Gauls, 
but  would  be  well  understood  by  the  officers  of  his  own  army. 

In  this  manner,  during  the  gradual  progress  of  Rome  to  uni- 
versal dominion,  this  language  came  into  general  use  through- 
out the  civilized  world.  It  was  spoken  and  read  in  all  the 
countries  bordering  on  the  Mediterranean,  in  Europe,  Asia, 
and  Africa.  In  all  these  regions,  it  became  the  language  of 
educated  men.  Whatever  was  written  in  Greek  was  accessi- 
ble to  millions,  and  these  millions  comprehended  all  the  men 
who  gave  character  to  their  age,  or  conferred  distinction  upon 
their  nation. 

We  see,  then,  in  the  second  place,  that  God  not  only  pre- 
pared a  language  in  which  this  revelation  for  all  coming  ages 
could  be  written,  but  he  diffused  that  language  over  the  civil- 
ized world.  He  created  a  suitable  vehicle  for  the  truth,  and  he 
made  that  vehicle,  as  far  as  was  necessary,  universal.  And 
this  work,  let  us  observe,  was  accomplished  by  means  of  the 
ambition  of  Alexander,  and  the  all-grasping  love  of  dominion 
of  the  citizens  of  Rome.  Men  ignorant  of  the  existence  and 
character  of  the  true  God,  bowbg  down  to  the  senseless  images 


PREPARATION   TOR   THE    ADVENT    OP    MESSIAH.      133 

which  their  own  hands  had  fashioned,  indulging  without  re- 
straint their  own  corrupt  passions,  were  thus  advancing  his 
purposes,  and  opening  the  way  for  the  advent  of  his  Son.  Thus, 
again,  was  that  saying  verified,  "  He  maketh  the  wrath  of  man 
to  praise  him,  and  the  remainder  of  wrath  he  will  restrain." 

One  other  condition  remains  yet  to  be  observed.  You  well 
know  that  the  nations  inhabiting  the  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean were  originally  distinct  in  government,  dissimilar  in 
origin,  diverse  in  laws,  habits,  and  usages,  and  almost  per 
petually  at  war.  To  pass  from  one  to  the  other,  without 
incurring  the  risk  of  injury,  nay,  even  of  being  sold  into  sla- 
very, was  almost  impossible.  A  stranger  and  an  enemy  were 
designated  by  the  same  word.  Beginning  with  Spain,  and 
passing  through  Gaul,  Germany, 'Italy,  Greece,  Asia  Minor, 
Syria,  Palestine,  Egypt,  and  Carthage,  until  you  arrive  again 
at  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  every  state  was  most  commonly  the 
enemy  of  every  other.  It  was  necessary  that  these  various 
peoples  should  all  be  moulded  by  the  same  pressure  into  one 
common  form  ;  that  one  system  of  laws  should  bind  them  all 
in  harmony  ;  and  that,  under  one  common  protection,  a  citizen 
might  be  able  to  pass  through  all  of  them  in  security.  This 
seems  to  have  been  needful,  in  order  that  the  new  religion 
might  be  rapidly  and  extensively  promulgated. 

In  order  to  accomplish  this  purpose,  as  I  suppose,  was  the 
Roman  empire  raised  up,  and  intrusted  with  the  sceptre  of 
universal  dominion.  Commencing  with  a  feeble  colony  on  the 
banks  of  the  Tiber,  she  gradually,  by  conquest  and  conciliation, 
incorporated  with  herself  the  many  warlike  tribes  of  ancient 
Italy.  In  her  very  youth,  after  a  death-struggle  of  more  than 
a  century,  she  laid  Carthage,  the  former  mistress  of  the  Medi- 
terranean, lifeless  at  her  feet.  From  this  era  she  paused  not  a 
moment  in  her  career  of  universal  conquest.  Nation  after 
nation  submitted  to  her  sway.  Army  after  army  was  scattered 
before  her  legions,  like  the  dust  of  the  summer  threshing-floor. 
Her  proconsuls  sat  enthroned  in  regal  state  in  every  city  of 
the  civilized  world ;  and  the  barbarian  mother,  clasping  her 
12 


134     PREPARATION    FOR   THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH. 

infant  to  her  bosom,  fled  to  the  remotest  fastnesses  of  the  wil- 
derness, when  she  saw,  far  off  in  the  distance,  the  sunbeams 
glittering  upon  the  eagles  of  the  republic. 

Far  different,  however,  were  the  victories  of  Rome  from 
those  of  Alexander.  The  Macedonian  soldier  thought  mainly 
of  battles  and  sieges,  the  clash  of  onset,  the  flight  of  satraps, 
and  the  subjugation  of  kings.  He  overran ;  the  Romans 
always  conquered.  Every  vanquished  nation  became,  in  turn, 
a  part  of  the  Roman  empire.  A  large  portion  of  every  con- 
quered people  was  admitted  to  the  rights  of  citizenship.  The 
laws  of  the  republic  threw  over  the  conquered  the  shield  of 
her  protection.  Rome  may,  it  is  true,  have  oppressed  them ; 
but  then  she  delivered  them  from  the  capricious  and  more 
intolerable  oppression  of  their  native  rulers.  Hence  her  con- 
quests really  marked  the  progress  of  civilization,  and  extended 
in  all  directions  the  limits  of  universal  brotherhood.  The 
Roman  citizen  was  free  of  the  civilized  world ;  every  where 
he  might  appeal  to  her  laws,  and  repose  in  security  under  the 
shadow  of  her  universal  power.  Thus  the  declaration,  "  Ye 
have  beaten  us  openly  and  uncondemned,  being  Romans," 
brought  the  magistrates  of  Philippi  suppliants  at  the  feet  of  the 
apostle  Paul ;  his  question,  "  Is  it  lawful  for  you  to  scourge  a 
man  that  is  a  Roman  and  uncondemned  ?  "  palsied  the  hands 
of  the  lictors  at  Jerusalem  ;  and  the  simple  words,  "  I  appeal 
unto  Caesar,"  removed  his  cause  from  the  jurisdiction  even  of 
the  proconsul  at  Ccesarea,  and  carried  it  at  once  into  the 
presence  of  the  emperor.  You  cannot  but  perceive,  that  this 
universal  domination  of  a  single  civilized  power  must  have 
presented  great  facilities  for  the  promulgation  of  the  gospel. 
In  many  respects,  it  resembled  the  dominion  of  Great  Britain 
at  the  present  day  in  Asia.  Wherever  her  red  cross  floats, 
there  the  liberty  of  man  is,  to  a  great  extent,  protected  by  the 
constitution  of  the  realm.  Whatever  be  the  complexion  or  the 
language  of  the  nations  that  take  refuge  beneath  its  folds,  they 
look  up  to  it  every  where,  and  bid  defiance  to  every  other 
despotism. 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  ADVENT  OF  MESSIAH.  135 

You  see,  then,  in  conclusion,  that  an  extensive  work  of 
preparation  was  needed  before  the  glory  of  the  Lord  should  be 
revealed,  and  that  new  dispensation  ushered  in,  which  should 
endure  to  the  end  of  time,  and  transform  the  kingdoms  of  this 
world  into  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ.  It 
was  requisite  that  the  powers  of  the  human  mind  should  arrive 
at  vigorous  manhood,  that  a  language  should  be  created  capa- 
ble of  enunciating  the  message  from  on  high  with  a  distinct- 
ness that  should  bear  the  scrutiny  of  all  coming  ages  ;  that 
this  language  should  come  into  universal  use,  and  that  the 
civilized  world  should  be  united  under  a  uniform  government. 
After  four  thousand  years,  all  this  was  accomplished.  The 
fulness  of  time  had  come,  and  God  sent  forth  his  Son. 

If  this  be  so,  we  perceive  that  the  over-turnings  of  forty 
centuries  were  required  in  order  to  prepare  the  world  for  the 
advent  of  the  Messiah.  The  same  omniscient  wisdom  has 
ever  since  been  engaged  in  carrying  forward  the  work  which 
was  then  commenced.  Not  only  the  revolutions  of  empire, 
but  the  astonishing  changes  in  civilization  produced  by  the 
discovery  of  America,  the  invention  of  the  printing  press,  the 
steam  engine,  the  railroad,  and  the  electrical  telegraph,  have 
all  been  ordained  with  reference  to  the  same  grand  result. 
The  wrath  of  man  still  praises  God,  and  the  remainder  of 
wrath  he  restrains.  Centuries  may  roll  away  before  the  uni- 
versal reign  of  the  Messiah  shall  commence  ;  but,  if  so  ex- 
tended be  the  work  of  preparation,  what  limit  can  be  imagined 
to  the  duration  of  that  kingdom  which  Christ  shall  establish 
over  a  redeemed  and  emancipated  world  ?  Ages  of  peace  and 
righteousness  may  be  confidently  anticipated,  in  comparison 
with  which  the  preliminary  ages  of  sin  and  misery  will  in  the 
retrospect  dwindle  to  -an  almost  invisible  point.  The  number 
of  the  lost  will  be  to  the  number  of  the  saved  as  the  small  dust 
of  the  balance ;  the  victory  over  sin  will  be  triumphant ;  and 
this  earth  will  again  become  a  glorious  light  in  the  moral 
firmament  of  God. 

Do  I  read  the  past  history  of  our  world  aright  ?     Is  this  the 


136      PREPARATION    FOR   THE    ADVENT    OF    MESSIAH. 

true  unveiling  of  the  mystery  that  has  covered  so  large  a 
portion  of  the  history  of  the  human  race  ?  How  astonishing 
a  conception,  then,  is  here  presented  of  the  far-reaching  wis- 
dom of  the  Deity  !  The  myriads  of  our  race,  in  the  untram- 
melled exercise  of  all  their  powers,  each  one  cai-rying  forward 
the  purposes  of  his  own  heart,  and  working  out  the  problem  of 
his  probation  for  eternity,  have  been,  at  the  same  time,  accom- 
plishing the  will  of  Him  "  who  is  wonderful  in  counsel,"  "  in 
whose  sight  a  thousand  years  are  as  one  day,  and  one  day  is 
as  a  thousand  years."  "  The  weakness  of  God  is  stronger 
than  man,  and  the  foolishness  of  God  is  wiser  than  man." 
"  The  Lord  reigneth,  let  the  earth  rejoice  ;  let  the  multitude 
of  isles  be  glad  thereof."  This  is  the  God  against  whom 
every  sinner  is  in  rebellion,  and  with  whom  every  one  of  us 
"  has  to  do."  Can  there  be  any  hope  in  such  a  contest  ?  Can 
we  oppose  ourselves  to  such  a  God,  and  hope  to  prosper? 
"  Be  wise,  then,  O  ye  kings ;  be  instructed,  ye  judges  of  the 
earth.  Serve  the  Lord  with  fear,  and  rejoice  with  trembling. 
Kiss  the  Son,  lest  he  be  angiy,  and  ye  pensh  frorr1  the  way 
when  his  wrath  is  kindled  but  a  little.  BRiw."J  9T?  ^l  they 
that  put  their  trust  in  him." 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 


PART    I. 

"  GOD  SENT  FORTH    HIS    SOX,    MADE    OF    A    WOMAN,   MADE    UNDER  THE 
LAW,   TO   REDEEM    THEM  THAT  WERE  UNDER  THE   LAW." 

Galatians  iv.  4, 5. 

THE  apostle  Paul,  in  the  chapter  preceding  that  from  which 
the  text  is  taken,  illustrates  the  superiority  of  the  gospel 
revealed  to  us  by  Christ  over  the  law  delivered  to  the  Israelites 
by  Moses.  In  accomplishing  this  purpose,  he  teaches  us  that 
the  law,  being  merely  preparatory,  was,  of  course,  an  inferior 
dispensation,  which  ceased  as  soon  as  that  to  which  it  was 
introductory  commenced.  It  accomplished,  however,  an  im- 
portant purpose,  during  the  long  interval  that  elapsed  between 
the  calling  of  Abraham  and  the  appearance  of  the  Messiah. 
"  The  law  was  our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  unto  Christ." 
When,  at  last,  every  preparation  had  been  fully  made,  —  when 
the  time,  the  set  time,  to  favor  Zion  had  come,  —  then  "  God  sent 
forth  his  Son,  made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the  law,  to 
redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law,  that  we  might  receive 
the  adoption  of  sons." 

These  words,  my  brethren,  seem  to  me  to  unfold  to  us  some 
of  those  remarkable  conditions  under  which  the  Messiah 
visited  our  world  to  do  away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself. 
In  the  attempt  to  direct  your  meditations  at  this  time,  I  propose 
simply  to  illustrate  and  develop  the  sentiment  which  they 
contain. 

12* 


138  THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

1.  The  text  asserts  that  "  God  sent  forth  his  Son."     Who 
is  intended  to  be  designated  by  the   term  Son,  I  need  scarcely 
pause  to  inform  you.     It  is  that  divine  Being  who  is  elsewhere 
called  "  the  Word,"  "  who  was  in  the  beginning  with  God,  who 
was  God,"  "  by  whom  all  things   were  made,   and  without 
whom  not  any  thing  was  made  that  was  made." 

2.  God  sent  forth  his  Son,  "  made  of  a  woman"     The  term 
"  made  of  a  woman  "  intends,  as  I  suppose,  to  assert  that  the 
Son  appeared  on  earth  a  human  being ;  that  he  took   upon 
himself  a  human,  in  opposition  to  an  angelic  or  any   other 
nature.     If  this  be  true,  then  the  Messiah  possessed  a  perfect 
human  constitution,  endowed  with  all  the  powers  and  faculties 
belonging  to  such  a  constitution,  just  like  any  one  of  us.     He 
possessed  an  understanding,  a  taste,  a  conscience,  a  will,  appe- 
tites, passions,  senses,  just  like  our  own,  save  only  that  th?y 
were  not  defiled  with  the  stain  of  sin.     "  Wherefore  he  is  not 
ashamed  to  call  us  brethren." 

The  same  idea  is  frequently  expressed  in  other  passages  of 
the  Scriptures.  Thus  we  are  told,  John  i.  14,  "  The  word 
became  Jlesh  and  dwelt  among  us,  full  of  grace  and  truth." 
Thus,  also,  1  Tim.  iii.  15,  16 :  "  The  pillar  and  ground  of  the 
truth,  and  without  controversy,  great  is  the  mystery  of  godli- 
ness ;  God  was  manifest  in  the  flesh."  So,  also,  Romans  ix. 
5  :  "  Whose  are  the  fathers,  and  of  whom,  as  concerning  the 
flesh,  Christ  came,  who  is  over  all,  God  blessed  forever." 
Thus,  also,  Philippians  ii.  5 — 7 :  "  Christ  Jesus,  who,  being  in 
the  form  of  God,  made  himself  of  no  reputation,  and  took 
upon  himself  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  was  made  in  the 
likeness  of  men,  and,  being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man,  he 
humbled  himself,  and  became  obedient  to  death,  even  the  death 
of  the  cross."  And  lastly,  for  I  need  not  multiply  quotations, 
Hebrews  ii.  14 :  "  For  as  much  then  as  the  children  are  par- 
takers of  flesh  and  blood,  (that  is,  of  a  human  nature,)  he  also 
himself  likewise  took  part  of  the  same,  .that  through  death  he 
might  destroy  him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the 
devil."  The  meaning  of  these  and  similar  passages,  I  sup- 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH.  139 

pose  to  be  the  following :  The  divine  Being  designated  by  the 
term  Word,  or  Son  of  God,  was  united  with  a  perfect  human 
nature,  in  the  person  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ;  and  this  mys- 
terious being  was  Christ,  the  Messiah,  the  anointed  One,  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  by  whose  obedience,  sufferings,  and  inter- 
cession alone,  the  race  of  Adam  can  hope  for  eternal  life. 

3.  God  sent  forth  his  Son,  made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the 
law.  What  is  the  meaning  of  this  last  phrase  —  "  made  under 
the  law"? 

The  law  spoken  of  here  must  be  either  the  ceremonial  or 
the  moral  law. 

The  word  law  is  used  twice  in  the  sentence  which  forms 
the  text.  In  both  cases  it  must  have  the  same  signification. 
It  is  said,  in  the  latter  clause,  Christ  came  to  redeem  those  who 
were  under  the  law.  The  word  here  cannot  mean  the  cere- 
monial law,  since  this  exposition  would  restrict  the  blessings 
flowing  from  the  atonement  of  Christ  to  the  Jews,  who  were 
the  only  people  under  this  law ;  and  would  also  make  the  sal- 
vation of  the  gospel  nothing  more  than  a  deliverance  from 
ceremonial  observances.  It  would  thus  teach  us  that  the  whole 
purpose  for  which  Christ  came  upon  earth  was  to  emancipate 
the  Jewish  nation  from  the  thraldom  of  the  Mosaic  ritual. 
Besides,  in  the  clause  succeeding  the  text,  the  meaning  of  the 
words  "  redeem  those  who  were  under  the  law  "  is  explained  by 
adding,  "  that  we  might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons."  Now, 
our  receiving  the  adoption  of  sons  could  not  be  consequent 
upon  the  subjection  of  Christ  to  the  ceremonial  law ;  nor  could 
it  mean  emancipation  from  that  law,  since,  of  those  who  received 
this  adoption,  the  greater  part  never  were  under  its  domin- 
ion. I  think  it  clear,  then,  that,  in  this  case,  the  word  law 
means,  not  the  ceremonial,  but  the  moral  law.  If  such  be  its 
meaning  in  the  one  case,  it  is  also  its  meaning  in  the  other. 
When  we  say,  therefore,  that  Christ  was  made  under  the  law, 
we  mean  the  moral  law,  that  under  which  the  human  race 
was  created,  which  they  are  bound  to  obey,  and  by  which  they 
will  all  be  judged  in  the  day  of  final  account. 


140  THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

What,  then,  does  the  apostle  mean,  when  he  declares  that 
Christ  was  under  the  moral  law  ?  You  observe  that  Christ 
was  made  under  the  law  "  to  redeem  those  that  are  under  the 
law."  It  is  evident  that  the  expression  in  these  two  places  has 
the  same  signification.  We  cannot,  then,  escape  the  conclusion 
that  Christ  was  made  under  the  law  in  the  same  sense  that  wo 
are  under  the  law. 

When  we  say  that  we  are  under  the  law,  we,  I  think,  mean 
that  we  are  under  a  constitution  such  that  we  suffer  or  enjoy  in 
consequence  of  our  disobedience  or  obedience  to  a  law  that  has 
been  made  known  to  us.  The  assertion  may  be  explained  in 
a  few  words,  thus  :  We  were  endowed,  at  our  creation,  with  all 
the  requisite  powers,  and  surrounded  with  all  proper  induce- 
ments for  keeping  the  law  of  God.  We  were  gifted  with  an 
intellect  to  know,  a  conscience  to  admonish,  and  a  will  to 
determine ;  and  sufficient  motives  were  set  before  us  to  incline 
us  to  act  virtuously.  The  law  of  God  which  we  were  required  to 
obey  was  briefly  this  :  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances we  were  placed  in  a  state  of  probation,  and  our 
eternal  destiny  was  suspended  upon  our  obedience  or  disobe- 
dience. If  we  had  kept  the  law,  eternal  life  would  have  been 
bestowed  upon  us  through  the  merciful  ordinance  of  God.  If 
we  failed  even  for  once,  our  claim  to  salvation  on  the  ground 
of  law  was  forever  annulled,  and  we  became  exposed  to  the 
righteous  penalties  of  the  precept  which  we  had  violated.  But 
this  is  not  all.  It  is  manifestly  an  element  of  the  constitution 
under  which  we  are  placed,  that  those  who  come  after  us  must 
suffer  or  enjoy  in  consequence  of  our  acts  —  acts  with  which 
they  could  have  had  no  personal  connection.  Such  is  the  con- 
stitution under  which  we  all  find  ourselves  to  have  been  created, 
and  to  which  Adam  was  in  a  particular  manner  subjected. 
Had  Adam  passed  through  his  probation  without  sin,  no  one 
can  tell  in  how  far  the  moral  peril  of  the  probation  of  his  pos- 
terity would  have  been  diminished.  He  sinned,  and  involved 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH.  141 

all  who  came  after  him  in  the  catastrophe  of  his  trans- 
gression.* 

Now,  when  we  say  that  the  Messiah  was  made  under  the 
moral  law,  it  seems  to  me  the  same  as  to  assert  that  he  ap- 
peared upon  earth,  and  lived,  and  died,  under  these  same  con- 
ditions. He  placed  himself  under  the  same  moral  constitution 
as  that  under  which  the  race  of  man  was  placed  ;  or,  in  other 
words,  the  same  as  that  under  which  Adam  was  originally 
placed  in  the  garden  of  Eden. 

When,  however,  I  assert  this,  it  is  proper  to  remark  that  the 
Messiah  voluntarily  placed  himself  under  this  constitution.  He 
was,  in  his  divine  nature,  infinitely  removed  from  the  moral 
law  proper  for  human  nature.  "  He  was  before  all  things,  and 
by  him  do  all  things  consist."  "  The  Word  was  in  the  be'gin- 
ning  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God."  "  Being  in  the  form 
of  God,  he  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,  but 
made  himself  of  no  reputation,  and  took  upon  him  the  fonn  of  a 
servant."  The  Creator  cannot,  from  his  nature,  be  subject  to 
the  law  of  the  creature.  He,  of  his  own  incomprehensible 
benevolence,  placed  himself  under  the  law  which  he  had  ap- 
pointed for  the  creature  in  order  to  work  out  our  redemption. 

After,  however,  the  Son  of  God  had  placed  himself  under  the 
law  of  human  nature,  he  became  subject  to  it,  in  the  same 
manner  as  that  nature  ;  that  is,  specially  as  Adam  was  subject 
to  it,  when  he  commenced  his  probation.t  He  was  exposed  to 
all  the  consequences  of  disobedience,  and  entitled  to  all  the  re- 
wards of  obedience,  just  as  we  suppose  our  first  parent  to  have 
been  before  his  fall.  This,  however,  includes  several  partic- 
ulars, which  may  properly  be  stated  somewhat  more  explicitly. 

On  tliis  part  of  our  subject  I  would  remark,  first,  he  took 
upon  himself  a  nature  liable  to  sin.  Were  it  otherwise,  it  would 
not  have  been  a  human  nature  ;  and  he  would  neither  have 

*  See  Sermon  p.  80.  where  this  subject  is  more  fully  illustrated. 

t  This  is  manifestly  the  appropriate  condition  of  human  nature. 
The  sinful  condition  of  our  race  is  an  accident,  and  is  evidently  no 
part  of  the  constitution  under  which  our  race  was  originally  created. 


142  THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

been  under  the  law,  nor  would  he  have  been  of  the  seed  of 
Abraham.  Had  lie  not  been  liable  to  sin,  I  do  not  see  in  what 
would  have  consisted  his  virtue,  either  in  resisting  temptation 
or  in  triumphing  over  evil.  What  may  be  the  forms  of  virtue 
in  other  states  I  know  not,  but,  under  the  conditions  of  human 
nature,  I  think  we  never  attribute  virtue  to  an  action  unless  the 
two  courses,  right  and  wrong,  are  both  open  before  a  man,  and 
with  entire  freedom  of  will  he  chooses  the  one  in  preference  to 
the  other.  The  way  of  sin  is  therefore  as  fully  open  before  a 
human  being  as  the  way  of  holiness  ;  and  from  the  conditions 
of  his  being,  he  is  as  liable  to  the  one  as  to  the  other.* 

Secondly.  It  follows,  I  think,  from  what  I  have  said,  that,  if 
the  Messiah  had  sinned,  the  consequences  to  himself  would 
have  been  the  same  as  to  any  one  of  us.  The  words  of  the 
law  are,  "  Indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation  and  anguish,  upon 
every  soul  of  man  that  doeth  evil,"  and  "  glory,  and  honor,  and 
peace  to  every  man  that  doeth  good."  And  "  we  know  that  what 
things  soever  the  law  saith,  it  saith  to  them  that  are  under  the 
Zaw."  This  was  the  law  under  which  the  Son  of  God  was  made. 

*  It  may  be  proper  here  to  remark,  that  in  every  case  of  human 
action  there  maybe  both  a  physical  and  a  moral  possibility  or  impossi- 
bility. Thus  a  man  of  tried  virtue  and  goodness  has  it  physically  as 
much  in  his  power  to  commit  murder  or  theft  as  any  other  man.  He 
has  by  nature  passions  and  appetites  which  may  be  gratified  by  these 
or  any  other  sins.  His  hunger,  for  instance,  may  be  appeased  by  for- 
bidden food.  There  is  nothing  to  restrain  him  but  his  virtue.  But 
that  virtue  may  be  so  superior  to  this  temptation,  that,  were  it  pre- 
sented before  him  forever,  he  would  never  be  overcome.  \Ve  say,  in 
such  a  case,  that  it  is  morally  impossible  for  him  to  commit  this  sin. 
We  recognize  this  distinction  every  day  in  our  ordinary  conversation. 
If  a  man  is,  from  sickness,  unable  to  move,  he  is  incapable  of  crime  in 
the  one  sense.  If  he  be  so  virtuous  that  temptation  is  unable  to 
seduce  him,  we  say  that  he  is  incapable  of  crime  in  the  other  sense. 
Thus  we  frequently  say  of  a  good  man,  that  he  is  incapable  of  lying ; 
of  a  kind  man,  that  he  is  incapable  of  cruelty.  We  suppose,  then, 
that  the  Messiah  was  physically  capable  of  sin,  and  liable  to  tempta- 
tion, and  that  the  only  reason  why  he  did  not  sin  was  his  transcend- 
ent virtue. 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH.  143 

By  keeping  it,  he  would,  in  his  inferior  nature,  have  been 
entitled  to  all  its  rewards ;  by  disobeying  it,  he  would  have  been 
exposed  to  the  punishments  .which  it  threatened.  If,  however, 
it  be  here  asked,  How  could  punishment  be  -inflicted  on  this 
mysterious  Being,  in  whose  person  were  united  the  divine  and 
human  nature  ?  I  willingly  confess  that  I  cannot  explain  it. 
There  seems,  however,  to  have  been  recorded  various  facts  in 
his  life*  which  show  that  even  this  was  not  impossible.  When 
on  earth,  without  sin,  his  soul  was  exceedingly  sorrowful  even 
unto  death.  His  nature,  then,  even  here,  was  capable,  as  also 
we  see  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  of  the  direst  extremity 
of  pain.  When  on  the  cross,  his  Father's  face  was  hidden 
from  him.  If  his  nature  were  capable  of  such  a  condition  as 
this  for  an  hour  or  a  moment,  it  was  capable  of  it  for  any 
period  whatever. 

Thirdly.  But  far  other  consequences  than  those  that  came 
upon  himself  were  to  result  from  the  probationary  existence  of 
the  Messiah.  I  have  alluded  to  the  element  of  the  constitution 
under  which  our  race  was  created  by  which  we  suffer  or  enjoy 
in  consequence  of  acts  in  which  we  have  had  no  participation. 
In  virtue  of  this  law,  our  first  parents  became,  from  the  neces- 
sity of  the  case,  in  some  sort  representatives  of  their  race. 
They  fell.  "  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world."  Their 
posterity  have  ever  since  been  sinners.  "  By  one  man's  diso- 
bedience, the  many  were  made  sinners."  In  what  manner 
these  consequences  become  entailed  upon  us,  it  is  not  necessary 
here  to  inquire.  It  is  sufficient  for  us  to  observe  the  fact  that 
results  directly  from  what  is  here  asserted,  namely,  that,  in 
consequence  of  the  sin  of  our  first  parents,  the  door  of  eternal 
life  became  practically  closed  to  the  whole  of  that  race  which 
came  after  them. 

Now,  it  seems  that  this  very  element  of  the  constitution  under 
which  we  were  created,  and  by  which  our  race  was  ruined,  is 
precisely  that  by  which  we  are  redeemed.  By  the  sin  of 
Adam,  his  posterity  became  sinners,  the  law  of  God  was  dis- 
honored, the  paternal  authority  of  God  set  at  defiance,  and  thus 


144  THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

the  way  of  life  to  man  became  closed.  It  was  necessary,  in 
order  to  our  salvation,  that  this  law  should  he  perfectly  obeyed 
by  one  in  human  nature  ;  and  obeyed  in  such  a  manner,  and 
by  one  of  such  a  character,  as  would  reflect  more  honor  on  the 
purity  of  the  law,  and  illustrate  more  gloriously  to  the  universe 
the  holiness  of  God,  than  we  could  have  done  by  our  obe- 
dience, or  even  by  suffering  forever  the  penalty  which  we  had 
incurred.  This  was  the  great  purpose  for  which  Christ  was 
manifest  in  the  flesh.  "  He  took  not  hold  of  the  nature  of 
angels,  but  he  took  hold  of  the  seed  of  Abraham  ;  wherefore 
in  all  things  it  behoved  him  to  be  made  like  unto  his  brethren." 
The  Messiah  then  came  as  the  second  Adam,  to  obey  the  law, 
which,  in  consequence  of  the  disobedience  of  the  first  Adam,  the 
whole  race  of  man  had  broken.  The  possibility  of  the  salvation 
of  the  whole  race  was  conditioned  upon  his  obedience.  If  he 
kept  the  law  spotless  and  without  blemish,  if  he  magnified  the 
law  and  made  it  honorable,  God  the  Father  would  be  well 
pleased  for  his  righteousness'  sake.  If  he  passed  triumphant  in 
virtue  through  all  the  moral  trials  to  which  our  nature  could  be 
exposed,  a  way  of  escape  from  eternal  wrath  was  provided  ; 
the  gate  of  heaven,  before  closed  by  our  sins,  was  thrown  wide 
open  to  every  child  of  Adam  ;  justice  and  mercy  would  meet 
together ;  God  could  be  just,  and  yet  the  justifier  of  him  that 
belie veth  in  Jesus ;  the  throne  of  God  would  be  encircled  with 
a  more  venerable  and  yet  more  lovely  effulgence  ;  and  a  man- 
ifestation of  the  attributes  of  the  Eternal,  more  august  than 
cherubim  and  seraphim  had  yet  beheld,  would  burst  forth  upon 
principalities  and  powers  in  heavenly  places.  But  if,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  Messiah  had  sinned,  —  if  the  wickedness  of 
man,  or  the  temptations  of  Satan,  had  seduced  him  by  word,  or 
thought,  or  deed,  from  the  line  of  perfect  obedience  to  the  holy 
law  of  God,  —  all  this  would  have  been  reversed.  The  Messiah 
himself  must  have  borne,  with  ourselves,  the  curse  of  that  law 
under  which  he,  in  common  with  the  race  of  man,  had  placed 
himself.  The  gate  of  heaven,  closed  a  second  time  to  our 
race,  would  have  been  sealed  without  the  possibility  of  hope ; 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH.  145 

and  our  whole  apostate  family,  not  one  exempt,  would  have 
peopled  the  regions  of  despair.  Nay,  more :  the  plan  of 
redemption,  on  which  the  wisdom  of  Omniscience  had  been 
exhausted,  would  have  proved  abortive.  That  effort  of  infinite 
compassion,  by  which  it  was  intended  to  save  a  race  of  perish- 
ing sinners,  would  have  only  rendered  their  perdition  more 
hopeless  by  the  very  sacrifice  of  his  well-beloved  Son.  The 
counsel  of  Heaven  would  have  been  covered  with  confusion. 
Infinite  mercy  would  have  wrought  nothing  but  misery.  * 

On  this  conflict,  then,  we  may  well  suppose  that  the  des- 
tinies of  the  universe  were  suspended.  By  the  obedience  of 
the  Messiah  was  it  to  be  determined  whether  sin  or  holiness 
should  be  henceforth  in  the  ascendant.  Well  may  we  sup- 
pose that  our  earth,  at  that  moment,  presented  a  spectacle  on 
which  all  intelligent  creatures  were  gazing  with  all-absorbing 
interest.  Well  might  the  Holy  Spirit  descend  in  a  visible  form 
on  the  head  of  Him  who  was  first  girding  himself  for  this 
mighty  contest.  Well  might  the  Eternal  Father  cheer  him 
with  his  presence,  and  declare  to  the  universe,  "  This  is  my 
beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well-pleased."  Well  might  Moses 
and  Elias  seize  an  opportunity  on  the  mount  of  transfigura- 
tion to  speak  with  him  respecting  the  decease  which  he  should 
accomplish  at  Jerusalem.  Well  might  angels  be  seen  minis- 
tering to  him,  when  his  nature,  exhausted  by  fasting,  or  pressed 

*  It  may  be  objected  to  the  view  here  taken,  that  I  have  not  duly 
considered  the  class  of  passages  which  lay  a  peculiar  stress  on  the 
blood  of  Christ  as  a  sacrifice  for  sin,  the  death  of  Christ  as  procuring 
our  redemption,  the  offering  up  of  Christ,  &c.  To  this  I  would  reply, 
that  I  by  no  means  have  forgotten  these  passages,  nor  am  I  disposed, 
in  the  least  degree,  to  attenuate  their  meaning.  No  view  of  any 
subject  of  revelation  can  be  correct  if  it  do  not  allow  the  full  and 
obvious  meaning  of  every  class  of  passages  which  treat  upon  that 
subject.  It  may,  therefore,  be  proper  to  remark  that,  in  treating  of 
the  work  of  Christ,  the  Scriptures  seem  to  me  to  develop  two  ideas  — 
the  one,  the  obedience  of  Christ  to  the  law ;  the  other,  the  offering  up 
of  himself  as  a  sacrifice  for  sin.  It  is  to  the  first  of  these  alone  that 
the  attention  of  the  reader  is  directed  in  the  present  discourse.  The 
subject  is  further  considered  in  the  following  sermon. 
13 


146  THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

down  by  the  weight  of  a  world's  redemption,  was  sinking 
beneath  its  burden.  No  wonder  that  the  earth  quaked,  and 
the  rocks  rent,  and  the  sun  was  shrouded  in  darkness,  on  that 
fearful  hour  in  which  was  decided  the  fate  of  the  whole  moral 
universe.  But,  if  all  the  powers  of  heaven  were  thus  inter- 
ested hi  the  event  of  this  conflict,  we  may  well  believe  that  the 
powers  of  hell  beheld  it  with  the  intensest  apprehension.  By 
the  result  of  the  Messiah's  mission  was  it  to  be  decided 
whether  they  were  to  defeat  the  purposes  of  the  Holy  One,  or 
be  covered  with  tenfold  confusion,  and  made  the  scorn  and 
abhorrence  of  the  universe  of  God.  Hence  all  their  hosts 
were  summoned  to  the  onset.  A  peculiar  and  unusual  power 
over  the  race  of  man  seems  at  this  time  to  have  been  conceded 
to  them.  This  was,  no  doubt,  exerted  to  the  uttermost.  Nor 
this  alone.  The  Messiah  himself  seems  to  have  been  exposed 
more  directly  than  any  of  us  to  the  temptations  of  the  hosts  of 
Satan.  Every  means  that  infernal  cunning  could  suggest,  or 
desperate  malignity  direct,  was  plied  to  the  uttermost,  in  order, 
if  possible,  to  seduce  the  Messiah  into  sin,  and  thus  defeat  the 
purposes  of  infinite  goodness.  Well  was  it  for  our  race  that 
our  help  was  laid  on  one  that  was  mighty.  What  created 
virtue  could  have  passed  through  such  a  trial  unscathed  ?  None 
but  God  manifest  in  the  flesh  could  have  accomplished  the 
work  which  was  given  to  the  Redeemer  to  do.  And  hence  do 
we  see  how  immeasurable  a  meaning  is  given  to  the  words, 
"  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son." 
Eternity  itself  will  fail  to  explore  the  length,  and  breadth,  and 
depth,  and  height,  of  the  love  of  God,  which  passeth  knowl- 
edge —  that  love  which  so  put  in  jeopardy  the  whole  interests 
of  the  universe,  to  save  from  perdition  a  race  of  creatures  who 
had  rebelled  against  a  holy  and  most  merciful  law.* 

*  If  the  view  here  taken  of  the  conditions  of  the  Messiah's  mission 
be  correct,  it  will,  I  think,  throw  some  light  upon  the  question  so 
frequently  asked,  In  what  manner  did  Christ's  appearing  upon  earth 
have  any  effect  upon  our  moral  relations  ?  To  this  various  replies 
have  been  presented.  It  has  been  said  that  his  unparalleled  humU 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  MESSIAH.          147 

II.  Let  us  now  survey  this  transaction  from  another  point  of 
view,  and  endeavor  to  form  a  conception  of  the  life  of  Christ 
under  the  conditions  which  we  have  endeavored  thus  imper- 
fectly to  explain. 

1.  Every  one  of  us  may  possibly  know,  from  experience 
how  oppressive  is  the  weight  of  solemn  and  important  respon- 
sibility. There  are  critical  moments  in  the  life  of  almost 
eveiy  man,  when  the  whole  color  of  his  destiny  has  been 
determined  by  a  single  decision.  He  who  remembers  these 
eras  in  his  histoiy  needs  not  to  be  reminded  of  the  fear  and 
trembling  with  which  he  approached  them.  The  soul,  in  such 
circumstances,  bowed  down  beneath  the  responsibility  under 
which  its  decision  must  be  pronounced,  feels  distinctly  that  it 
could  not  possibly  exist,  were  this  anxiety  to  be  long  con- 
tinued. So  intolerable  is  the  pressure  of  this  overwhelming 
care,  that  men  generally  hasten  to  almost  any  decision  in 
order  to  be  relieved  from  it,  preferring  any  consequence  what- 
ever to  the  torture  of  insufferable  doubt. 

The  case,  however,  becomes  vastly  more  oppressive  when 

iation,  or  his  lowly  and  painful  life,  his  bitter  death,  were  of  the 
nature  of  a  suffering  of  the  penalty  of  the  law.  I,  however,  appre- 
hend that  this  explanation  has  not  always  been  satisfactory  to  those 
who  have  borne  in  mind  the  character  of  the  law  which  we  have 
violated,  and  the  awful  holiness  of  the  Being  against  whom  we  have 
sinned.  Besides,  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  considered  by  themselves, 
were  not  severer,  nor  was  his  death,  in  itself,  more  excruciating  than 
that  of  many  martyrs,  confessors,  and  missionaries.  And  yet,  again, 
when  the  question  is  asked,  how  does  such  a  life,  if  this  be  all,  meet 
the  demands  of  the  law  ?  how  is  it  in  so  special  a  manner  a  moral 
victory  ?  I  think  we  generally  feel  that  this  transaction  is  a  mystery 
of  which  we  would  like  to  see  a  clear  solution.  If,  however,  we  go 
beyond  this  outward  appearance,  and  consider  that  this  life  was 
really  spent  under  a  liability  to  all  the  consequences  of  sin,  and  that 
this  virtue,  thus  exhibited,  did  really  triumph  over  every  attack  that 
could  be  made  upon  it  by  all  the  hosts  of  hell,  we  seem,  to  me,  to 
approach  nearer  to  an  answer  to  these  questions ;  while,  at  the  same 
time,  the  whole  transaction  assumes  a  moral  grandeur,  in  comparison 
with  which  every  other  fact  in  the  history  of  the  world  turns  pale. 


148  THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

not  only  our  own  destinies,  but  those  of  others,  are  deeply 
affected  by  our  decisions.  I  can  conceive  of  no  situation  more 
intensely  painful  to  a  benevolent  mind  than  that  in  which  the 
happiness  or  misery  of  multitudes  is  suspended  upon  the 
deliberations  of  our  own  finite  intelligence.  A  crisis  of  this 
kind,  happily,  does  not  frequently  occur  in  the  ordinary  walks 
of  life.  There  are,  however,  rare  situations,  in  which  men  are 
called  habitually  to  act  under  the  pressure  of  such  responsi- 
bility. Where  this  is  the  case,  the  heart,  unless  sustained  by 
the  highest  attainments  in  virtue,  becomes  callous  arid  indiffer- 
ent to  the  result ;  or  else  the  intellect  itself  gives  way  beneath 
a  burden  of  anxiety  too  heavy  to  be  borne  by  human  nature. 
Politicians  and  statesmen,  more  directly  than  other  men,  arc 
placed  in  the  circumstances  to  which  I  have  referred ;  and 
hence  it  is  that  their  annals  are  so  replete,  on  the  one  hand, 
with  instances  of  remorseless  and  revolting  selfishness,  and, 
on  the  other,  with  those  of  derangement,  suicide,  and  sudden 
death. 

In  the  case  of  the  Messiah,  however,  not  temporal  but  eter- 
nal interests  were  suspended  upon  his  decisions.  It  was  not 
merely  the  result  of  his  actions  upon  his  own  happiness  or 
miser}',  but  their  result  upon  the  happiness  or  misery  of  innu- 
merable millions  that  pressed  with  overwhelming  anxiety  upon 
his  holy  soul.  It  was  not  merely  the  happiness  or  misery  of 
created  beings,  be  they  ever  so  numerous,  or  how  largely 
soever  susceptible  of  pleasure  or  pain  ;  it  was  the  honor  of  that 
holy  law  which,  in  the  presence  of  the  universe,  he  had  under- 
taken to  magnify,  which  was  perilled  upon  the  condition  of  his 
sinless  obedience.  And  yet  more :  these  stupendous  conse- 
quences were  not  suspended  upon  a  single  hour,  or  day,  or 
year  of  the  Messiah's  life,  but  upon  every  action,  every  word, 
every  thought,  every  motive,  throughout  his  whole  probation- 
ary existence.  Every  moral  bias,  during  his  continuance 
under  the  law,  was  put  forth  under  the  pressure  of  this  infinite 
responsibility.  Had  he  but  once  disobeyed  God ;  had  he  acted 
from  one  guilty  or  even  one  imperfect  motive  had  he,  for  a 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  149 

single  moment,  exercised  any  thing  less  than  the  full  measure 
of  that  love  which  was  due  to  his  Father  in  heaven,  and  to  his 
brethren  of  the  human  race,  —  all  would  have  been  lost ;  the 
scheme  of  man's  redemption  would  have  stood  recorded  in 
the  annals  of  eternity  a  solemn  failure,  and  the  cunning  and 
malice  of  hell  would  have  triumphed  over  the  wisdom  and 
holiness  of  heaven. 

To  spend  a  life  on  earth,  with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  con- 
sequences which  were  thus  suspended  upon  every  moment, 
nfust  have  been  awful  beyond  any  thing  of  which  the  human 
mind  can  adequately  conceive.  There  were,  however,  circum- 
stances in  the  life  of  the  Messiah  which  must  have  aggravated, 
beyond  description,  the  agony  which  he  suffered. 

It  will  assist  us  to  form  a  conception  of  the  life  of  Christ, 
if  we,  for  a  moment,  in  the  first  place,  compare  it,  in 
this  respect,  with  that  of  Adam.  Adam  is  styled,  in  the 
Scriptures,  the  type  or  emblem  of  Him  who  was  to  come. 
The  reason  of  this  designation  is  obvious.  Our  first  parent 
stood  in  a  relation  to  the  race  similar  to  that  held  by  the 
Messiah.  Had  our  progenitor  kept  the  law  inviolate,  and 
passed  through  his  probation  without  sin,  the  course  of  human 
life  would  have  commenced,  and  perhaps  would  have  con- 
tinued, sinless  ;  just  as,  "  by  the  transgression  of  one,"  on  the 
other  hand,  "  the  many  were  made  sinners."  So  the  Messiah, 
the  second  Adam,  standing  in  the  same  relation  to  our  race, 
on  his  obedience  or  failure,  the  destiny  of  us  all  was  a  second 
time  contingent.  But  how  immeasurably  different  were  the 
conditions  of  these  our  two  representatives  !  The  soul  of  Adam 
awoke  to  consciousness  in  a  pure  and  holy  world.  Nothing 
was  reflected  back  from  every  object  around  him  but  the 
unsullied  image  of  the  Creator.  God  himself  was  his 
instructor  and  his  companion.  There  was  no  example  of  sin 
to  corrupt  him.  There  was  no  infliction  of  injustice  to  exas- 
perate him.  There  was  no  act  of  ingratitude  to  grieve  him. 
Every  thing  around  him  was  very  good  ;  and  every  thing  was 
created  with  the  express  intention  of  fostering  the  principle  of 
13* 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

holiness  within  him.  And,  moreover,  he  entered  upon  this 
state  without  ever  having  seen  any  thing  more  glorious.  It 
was  comparatively  easy  for  him  to  pass  through  his  probation 
unharmed,  and  thus  to  impress  the  seal  of  righteousness  upon 
his  whole  posterity. 

The  Messiah,  on  the  contrary,  entered  a  world  lying  in 
wickedness  ;  a  world  without  God.  Every  face  that  he  saw 
had_  been  marked  with  the  image  of  the  prince  of  darkness. 
The  very  elements  of  its  society  had  received  their  form  and 
pressure  from  the  enemy  of  all  righteousness.  What  a  cott- 
trast  did  it  form  with  the  world  that  he  had  left !  He  had 
exchanged  the  peace  and  harmony  of  heaven  for  the  war 
and  discords  of  earth ;  the  anthems  of  seraphim  for  the 
blasphemies  of  men.  The  adoration  of  the  hosts  of  heaven, 
who  accompanied  him  to  the  confines  of  our  world,  had 
hardly  ceased,  when  he  was  assailed  by  the  scornful  revilings 
of  the  worms  upon  his  footstool. 

Again :  when  men  are  placed  in  circumstances  of  peculiar 
trial,  they  are  of  necessity  intimately  associated  together. 
The  chief  actor  in  a  momentous  enterprise  unites  with  him- 
self others  who  sympathize  in  his  motives,  comprehend  his 
plans,  cany  forward  his  designs,  and  who  would  cheerfully 
sacrifice  their  lives  in  behalf  of  the  cause  in  which  all  are 
equally  engaged.  How  much  .this  tends  to  alleviate  anxiety, 
and  soften  the  pressure  of  otherwise  intolerable  care,  I  surely 
need  not  remind  you. 

None  of  these  ameliorating  circumstances,  however,  re- 
lieved the  anxieties  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Of  all  the  beings 
who  have  d'velt  upon  our  earth,  none  was  ever  so  emphatically 
a  lone  man  as  the  Messiah.  In  the  prophetic  language  of 
Isaiah,  "  he  trode  the  wine-press  alone,  and  of  the  people 
there  was  none,  with  him."  At  the  commencement  of  his 
public  ministry,  all  his  family,  his  mother  only  excepted,  dis- 
carded him  as  a  madman.  Though  he  selected  his  immediate 
companions  from  his  most  promising  disciples,  yet  not  one  of 
them  could  comprehend  his  plans,  or  form  even  a  remote 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH.  151 

conception  of  the  nature  of  his  mission.  Even  after  his 
resurrection,  their  views  of  the  result  of  his  advent  reached 
not  beyond  the  establishment  of  a  temporal  sovereignty,  and 
the  conferring  of  universal  dominion  upon  the  descendants  of 
Abraham.  "  Lord,"  said  they  unto  him,  "  wilt  thou  at  this 
time  restore  the  kingdom  to  Israel  ? "  Nay,  on  the  very 
night  in  which  he  was  betrayed,  when,  about  to  enter  upon 
his  bitter  passion,  he  was  attempting  to  prepare  them  for  the 
coming  events,  they  interrupted  him  by  an  altercation  arising 
out  of  the  question,  who  should  be  the  greatest  in  the  ap- 
proaching revolution.  Thus,  without  sympathy,  wholly  with- 
out a  helper,  he  bore  the  weight  of  his  own  sorrows  ;  while 
he  was  working  out,  unaided,  the  deliverance  of  a  world  from 
the  condemnation  of  the  law. 

But  while  thus  destitute  of  friends,  who  were  capable  of 
sympathizing  with  him,  he  suffered,  as  no  other  being  on  earth 
ever  suffered,  the  unmitigated  infliction  of  this  world's  enmity. 
If  any  thing  could  have  moved  him  to  wrath,  he  must  have 
been  so  moved  by  the  treatment  which  he  received  from 
those  whom  he  came  from  heaven  to  seek  and  to  save.  He 
came  to  suffer  the  will  and  obey  the  law  of  God,  to  rescue 
us  from  eternal  perdition  ;  and  how  was  he  welcomed  ?  In 
infancy  his  life  was  sought  for  by  Herod.  As  he  travelled 
on  foot  over  the  plains  of  Judga  and  the  mountains  of  Gali- 
lee, the  common  hospitalities  of  life  were  denied  him.  "  The 
foxes  have  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the 
Son  of  man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head."  If  he  did  not 
work  miracles,  his  authority  was  denied  ;  if  he  wrought  them 
on  the  Sabbath,  he  was  accused  of  breaking  his  Father's 
commandment ;  if  he  wrought  them  on  any  other  day,  his 
power  was  ascribed  to  collusion  with  the  prince  of  devils. 
If  he  taught  plainly,  he  excited  the  malice  of  the  scribes,  and 
they  conspired  against  his  life  ;  if  he  spoke  in  parables,  they 
scoffed  at  him  as  a  madman  and  a  demoniac.  Every  truth  that 
he  revealed  was  uttered  in  the  presence  of  avowed  enemies,  or 
of  treacherous  friends,  who,  with  fiendish  ingenuity,  wrested 


152  THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

his  words  and  strove  to  distort  his  holy  precepts  into  blas- 
phemy. To  have  refrained  from  speaking  would  have  dis- 
pleased his  Father,  for  he  came  from  heaven  to  be  a  light 
unto  the  world.  To  speak  was  to  arouse  that  ceaseless 
enmity  which  was  only  awaiting  a  fit  occasion  to  raise  the 
universal  cry,  "  Crucify  him  !  crucify  him  !  away  with  such 
a  fellow  from  the  earth  !  "  Every  act,  which  fiendish  inge- 
nuity could  invent,  was  plied  to  the  uttermost  to  tempt  him 
to  sin ;  and  had  he  but  once  sinned,  his  tempters,  with  their 
whole  race,  would  have  been  consigned  to  remediless 
perdition. 

But  this  is  not  all.  I  have  already  remarked  that  he  was 
incessantly  exposed  to  the  most  subtle  temptations  of  all  the 
powers  of  darkness.  Of  the  manner  of  these  temptations 
we  have  a  recorded  example  in  two  of  the  evangelists. 
From  this  single  instance,  we  may  learn  that  every  circum- 
stance of  his  eventful  life  was  employed  with  consummate 
address  to  lead  the  Messiah  into  sin.  In  the  extremity  of 
hunger  and  exhaustion,  he  was  pressed  to  put  forth  his 
miraculous  power  in  a  manner  not  permitted  by  his  Father, 
that  so  he  might  betray  impatience  to  the  allotments  of  Provi- 
dence. In  his  loneliness  and  humiliation,  when,  his  mission 
not  having  been  confided  to  a  single  soul,  he  was  a  solitary 
being  on  earth,  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  are  offered 
him  as  the  reward  of  a  single  act  of  transgression.  And 
when,  strong  in  holy  confidence,  he  had  repelled  every  temp- 
tation, even  this  confidence  is  employed  to  tempt  him  to  a 
mode  of  reliance  on  God  not  warranted  by  his  dealings  with 
men. 

This,  however,  is  but  a  single  incident  in  the  Messiah's  life 
from  which  the  veil  has  been  removed  by  the  hand  of  inspi- 
ration. But  if  the  acts  of  the  tempter  were  thus  plied  in 
loneliness,  in  the  wilderness,  when  the  Savior  had  retired  for 
the  purposes  of  devotion,  with  what  earnestness  must  they 
have  been  redoubled  in  the  city,  among  the  multitude,  when 
the  successive  incidents  of  his  life  afforded  incomparably 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH.  153 

better  hope  that  they  might  be  tried  with  advantage !  What 
must  have  been  the  suggestions  of  the  adversary,  when  the 
malignity  of  enemies  and  the  ingratitude  of  friends  tried  his 
tender  spirit  to  the  uttermost  ?  And  let  us  not  forget  that 
thus  tempted  from  without,  and  assaulted  from  within,  every 
action  of  his  life  was  performed  under  the  fearful  respon- 
sibility of  a  world's  salvation.  Who,. but  the  Son  of  God, 
was  equal  to  such  a  trial  ?  Had  not  our  help  been  laid  on 
One  that  was  mighty  to  save,  where  could  have  been  the 
shadow  of  hope  for  any  of  our  race  ? 

Such  was  the  'life  of  Christ.  But  he  had  yet  a  baptism  to 
be  baptized  with,  in  comparison  with  which  all  that  he  had 
yet  undergone  was  tolerable.  In  view  of  this,  he  prayed  his 
Father  that,  if  it  were  possible,  this  cup  might  pass  from  him. 
He  prayed  thus  three  times.  The  anticipation  of  the  trial 
through  which  he  must  pass,  so  overwhelmed  his  physical 
nature,  that  the  blood  gushed  from  every  pore,  forced  out  by 
agony  too  great  for  human  endurance. 

In  order  to  estimate  the  intensity  of  the  Messiah's  suffering, 
consider,  for  a  moment,  the  elements  of  agony  that  were  con- 
centrated in  the  crisis  of  his  passion.  The  slight  consolations 
that  he  had  received  from  human  sympathy  were  withdrawn, 
and  he  was  delivered  up  into  the  hands  of  merciless  ruffians. 
Flis  disciples  leave  him  alone,  and  one,  the  oldest  and  *he 
most  zealous,  denies,  with  imprecations,  that  he  had  ever 
even  known  him.  Human  malice  is  unchained,  that  it  may 
exert  upon  him  its  whole  power  without  control.  The  Lamb 
of  God  is  smitten  with  the  fist,  spit  upon,  and  crowned  with 
thorns.  All  this  is  but  the  prelude  to  death  in  its  most  ago- 
nizing form.  The  immaculate  Son  of  God  must  endure  the 
public  death  of  an  ignominious  felon.  What  death  is,  no  one 
of  us  can  know  from  experience ;  much  less  can  we  know 
what  is  endured  in  a  violent,  lingering,  and  cruel  death  by 
murder.  But  every  one,  who  has  stood  by  the  bedside  of  a 
departing  friend,  can  form  some,  though  it  be  an  inadequate, 
conception  of  that  hour  when  the  powers  of  the  mind  are  pros- 


154  THE    WORK   OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

trated  by  disease,  and  the  soul,  environed  on  eveiy  side  by 
the  extremity  of  suffering,  feels  the  power  of  self-government 
giving  way  under  the  pressure  of  intolerable  anguish.  If  such 
be  death  to  any  one  of  us,  what  must  it  have  been  to  pass 
through  this  hour  as  the  Messiah  did,  with  the  destinies  of 
the  world  suspended  on  his  sinless  obedience  ? 

But  this  was  not  all.  The  infernal  spirits  had  thus  far 
tempted  him  utterly  in  vain.  The  warfare  was  nearly  accom- 
plished, and  as  yet  they  had  achieved  no  victory  ;  one  conflict 
only  remained.  The  last  effort  was  now  to  be  made,  and  with 
better  prospect  of  success  than  they  had  before  dared  to  hope 
for.  They  had  succeeded  in  isolating  the  Savior  from  every 
human  aid.  The  moment  of  nature's  weakness  was  the  time 
of  their  chosen  opportunity.  The  Messiah  must  come  specially 
within  their  power,  as  he  was  delivering  the  race  of  man  from 
it  forever.  "  It  was  their  hour,  and  the  power  of  darkness." 
Every  earthly  support  had  been  withdrawn  from  him.  The 
very  power  of  self-control  was  trembling  under  the  pressure  of 
agony  too  great  to  be  endured.  The  will  could  scarcely  retain 
its  authority  amidst  the  struggles  of  expiring  nature.  Now, 
now,  could  the  Messiah  be  tempted  to  sin ;  now,  could  he  be 
made  to  yield  even  to  an  unholy  thought,  or  put  forth  an  im- 
patient desire,  their  whole  work  would  be  accomplished.  The 
whole  power  of  hell  was  therefore  concentrated  to  overwhelm 
him  at  this  awful  crisis.  Under  such  conditions  did  the  Savior 
pass  through  the  hour  of  death. 

But  lastly :  up  to  this  hour,  the  Spirit  had  been  poured  out 
without  measure  upon  him.  Thus  far  he  had  been  upheld  by 
constant  and  reciprocal  communion  with  his  Father  and  our 
Father,  with  his  God  and  our  God.  But  at  this  moment,  even 
this  light,  that  had  thus  far  cheered  him,  was  withdrawn,  and 
he  passed  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  in  utter 
darkness.  All  support,  created  and  uncreated,  was  removed, 
and  he  was  left  to  the  unaided  strength  of  his  own  personal 
virtue.  What  an  hour  was  that  in  the  annals  of  eternity  !  The 
endless  destiny  of  countless  myriads,  the  honor  of  the  law  of 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH.  155 

God,  the  decision  of  that  contest  which  must  end  in  the  triumph 
of  heaven  or  the  triumph  of  hell,  the  question  whether  Messiah 
should  sink  under  the  curse  of  the  law  to  which  he  had  sub- 
jected himself,  or  be  raised  in  his  assumed  nature  to  the  throne 
of  the  universe, — all  were  suspended  upon  the  strength  of  the 
Savior's  virtue  under  this  awful  trial.  He  cried,  "  My  God, 
my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  "  There  was  darkness 
over  all  the  land.  There  was  silence  in  heaven.  Seraphim 
and  cherubim,  awe-struck,  looked  down  upon  this  unparalleled 
moral  contest.  On  its  issue  there  seems  to  have  depended  the 
happiness  or  misery  of  the  moral  universe  of  God. 

The  moments  of  agony  slowly  rolled  away.  The  powers 
of  hell  had  gained  no  advantage.  The  Messiah,  strong  in  his 
own  unaided  virtue,  had  baffled  every  attack  of  earth  and  hell, 
and  shone  glorious  in  untarnished  holiness.  His  last  moment 
has  arrived.  Doth  he  yet  maintain  his  integrity  ?  Doth  he, 
amidst  these  unfathomable  trials  of  his  benevolence,  still  love 
his  neighbor  as  himself?  Hearken  to  the  prayer  that  quivers 
upon  his  parched  and  feverish  lips :  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for 
they  know  not  what  they  do."  Although  forsaken  of  his 
Father  and  his  God,  doth  he  yet  trust  in  him  with  filial 
confidence  ?  Hearken  again :  "  Father,  into  thy  hands  I 
commit  my  spirit."  The  warfare  was  accomplished.  The 
victory  was  won.  He  said,  "  It  is  finished,  and  gave  up  the 
ghost." 

The  work  was  done.  The  victory  was  achieved.  He  had 
sustained  his  unparalleled  trial,  holy,  harmless,  and  undefiled. 
The  law  of  God  was  magnified  and  made  honorable.  An 
illustration  of  the  holiness  of  God  had  been  made,  so  glorious 
that  the  condemnation  of  the  race  of  man  would  have  been  as 
nothing  to  it.  The  subtilty  of  the  hosts  of  hell  was  turned  to 
foolishness.  The  malignity  of  Satan  was  covered  with  eternal 
shame.  The  seed  of  the  woman  had  crushed  the  head  of  the 
serpent.  The  race  of  Adam  was  delivered  from  the  curse  of 
the  law,  and  a  way,  even  into  the  holiest  of  holies,  was  opened 
to  us,  through  the  blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant.  . "  Mercy 


156  THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

and  truth  had  met  together,  righteousness  and  peace  had 
kissed  each  other."  Every  attribute  of  God  shone  forth  upon 
the  whole  moral  universe  with  a  new  and  more  resplendent 
effulgence.  And  all  this  was  accomplished  by  means  of  the 
Messiah's  holiness.  "  Wherefore,  also,  God  hath  highly  ex- 
alted him,  and  given  him  a  name  which  is  above  every  name ; 
that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  whether  of 
things  in  heaven,  and  things  in  earth,  and  things  under  the 
earth,  and  that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  Lord  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father."  And  hence,  also,  as 
he  ascended  to  his  native  heaven  in  triumph  over  all  the  pow- 
ers of  darkness,  a  new  song  burst  forth  from  the  redeemed  of 
every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation,  and  frorn 
all  the  angels  round  about  the  throne,  saying,  with  a  loud 
voice,  "  Worthy  is  the  Lamb,  that  was  slain,  to  receive  power, 
and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  strength,  and  honor,  and  glory, 
and  blessing ; "  while  this  song  was  reechoed  from  eveiy 
creature  in  heaven,  and  on  earth,  arid  under  the  earth,  saying, 
"  Blessing,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  power,  to  him  that 
sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  to  the  Lamb,  forever." 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  MESSIAH. 


PART    II. 

"  THOU  HAST  ASCENDED  ON  HIGH,  THOU  HAST  LED  CAPTIVITY  CAPTIVE, 
THOU  HAST  RECEIVED  GIFTS  FOR  MEN,  YEA,  FOR  THE  REBELLIOUS 
ALSO,  THAT  THE  LORD  GOD  MIGHT  DWELL  AMONG  THEM." 

Psalm  Ixviii.  18. 

IN  the  last  discourse,  I  endeavored  to  present  a  conception 
of  the  manner  of  life  of  the  Messiah  on  earth.  I  then  took 
occasion  to  show  that  he  perfectly  fulfilled  that  law  under 
which  he  had  voluntarily  placed  himself;  he  triumphed  over  all 
the  powers  of  darkness,  and,  having  accomplished  his  whole 
work  on  earth,  he  said,  "  It  is  finished,"  bowed  his  head,  and 
yielded  up  his  spirit.  He,  in  human  nature,  obeyed  the  law 
which  we  had  violated,  in  the  words  of  the  apostle,  "  con- 
demned sin  in  the  flesh,"  "  and  spoiled  principalities  and 
powers,  making  a  show  of  them  openly." 

This,  however,  was  only  a  part  of  his  work  as  the  Messiah. 
He  took  upon  himself  human  nature.  He  was  made  of  a 
woman,  made  under  the  law.  It  behoved  him  to  pass  through 
all  the  changes  to  which  those  born  of  women  are  subjected. 
Until  all  this  was  accomplished,  his  work,  as  our  represent- 
ative, was  not  completed.  Let  us  see  whether  we  are  able,  by 
the  light  of  revelation,  to  trace  out  his  work  any  further. 

The  Scriptures,  I  think,  teach  us  that  the  human  race  must 

exist  in  three  successive  states.     First,  in  the  state  of  a  spirit 

united  to  a  mortal  body  —  such  are  we  at  present ;  secondly,  in 

the  state  of  spirit  disconnected  with  a  body  ;  and  thirdly,  that 

14 


158  THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

of  spirit  united  with  a  glorified,  or,  as  the  apostle  terms  it,  a 
spiritual  body. 

Our  blessed  Lord,  during  his  residence  on  earth,  had  passed 
through  the  first  of  these  conditions  of  human  nature.  "  He 
was  in  all  points  like  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin." 

At.  death,  the  Messiah  entered  upon  the  second  state  to  which 
we  are  appointed.  His  body  was  laid  in  the  tomb  of  Joseph, 
and  it  continued  there  from  the  evening  of  the  sixth  to  the 
morning  of  the  first  day  of  the  week.  The  body  was  actually 
dead,  the  executioners  themselves  being  witnesses.  And  to 
make  assurance  yet  more  sure,  a  soldier,  by  a  wound  in  the 
Savior's  side,  that  must  have  severed  organs  essential  to  life, 
rendered  all  deception  or  error  impossible.  The  spirit  or  soul 
of  the  Messiah  was  then  separated  from  his  mortal  body.  It 
dwelt  in  the  place  of  departed  spirits.  All  this  is  stated  in  the 
first  sermon  that  was  preached  after  the  resurrection.  Quot- 
ing from  the  sixteenth  Psalm,  the  apostle  Peter  says,  "  I  fore- 
saw the  Lord  always  before  my  face,  for  he  is  on  my  right 
hand,  that  I  should  not  be  moved ;  therefore  did  my  heart 
rejoice,  and  my  tongue  was  •  glad  ;  moreover,  also,  my  flesh  " 
(my  human  body)  "  shall  rest  in  hope,  because  thou  wilt  not 
leave  my  soul  in  hell,  neither  wilt  thou  suffer  thy  holy  One  to 
see  corruption,"  (to  suffer  decay  ;)  "  thou  hast  made  known  to 
me  the  ways  of  life,"  (thou  wilt  bring  me  to  life  again,)  "  thou 
wilt  make  me  full  of  joy  with  thy  countenance,"  (thou  wilt 
raise  me  to  the  fulness  of  joy  at  thy  right  hand.)  The  apostle 
shows  that  these  words  could  never  have  been  true  of  David, 
since  he  never  rose  again,  but  his  flesh  saw  corruption  and 
decay,  like  that  of  any  other  human  being.  They  are,  how- 
ever, perfectly  true  of  the  Messiah.  "  David,"  said  he,  "  being 
a  prophet,  and  knowing  that  God  had  sworn  with  an  oath,  to 
him,  that  of  the  fruit  of  his  loins,  according  to  the  flesh,  he 
would  raise  up  Christ  to  sit  upon  his  throne,  he,  seeing  this 
before,  spake  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  that  his  soul  was 
not  left  in  hell,  neither  did  his  flesh  see  corruption." 

The  word  translated  hell  here  is  "  hades"  a  word  signifying, 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH.  159 

originally,  the  invisible,  and  used,  commonly,  for  the  invisible 
world,  the  place  of  the  departed.  It  differs  generically  from 
the  word  gehenna,  which  is  used  invariably  to  designate  the 
place  of  future  punishment  reserved  for  the  ungodly.  You 
see,  then,  that  the  apostle  does  not  teach  us  that  the  soul  of  the 
Messiah,  at  death,  entered  heaven ;  but  merely  hades,  or  the 
abode  of  separate  spirits. 

But  what  do  we  know  of  the  residence  of  Messiah  in  this 
unseen  world  ?  I  must  confess  our  knowledge  on  this  subject 
to  be  but  limited.  We  know  that  this  invisible  world  is  a  place 
either  of  pleasure  or  of  pain.  The  apostle  speaks  of  being 
absent  from  the  body  and  present  with  the  Lord.  He  says, 
that  so  far  as  his  own  choice  was  concerned,  he  would  rather 
be  thus  transferred  from  the  present  state  of  trial  to  that  of 
eternal  rest.  Our  Savior  promised  to  the  thief  on  the  cross, 
"  This  day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise."  It  was  a 
promise  to  a  dying  penitent.  It  spoke  to  him  of  consolation, 
'and  of  future  happiness.  It  could  have  meant  neither  annihi- 
lation, nor  unconsciousness,  but  exceeding  joy.  It  was,  then, 
to  the  bh'ss  of  this  invisible  state  that  the  Messiah  was  himself 
drawing  near.  He  was  about  to  conduct  this  first-born  of  the 
redeemed  to  the  mansions  which  he  was  going  to  prepare  for 
all  those  that  love  him. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  same  hades,  the  place  of  the  de- 
parted, is  spoken  of  as  a  place  of  hopeless  misery.  "  The 
poor  man  died,  and  was  carried  of  angels  to  Abraham's 
bosom."  "  The  rich  man  also  died,  and  was  buried,  and  in 
hell  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  being  in  torments,  and  seeth  Abra- 
ham afar  off,  and  Lazarus  in  his  bosom."  From  such  passages 
as  these,  we  may,  I  think,  learn  that  there  is  a  state  into  which 
all  men  pass  between  the  hour  of  death  and  the  morning  of 
the  resurrection  ;  a  state  in  which  the  soul  exists  separate  from 
the  body ;  a  state  of  joy  unutterable  to  the  pious,  and  of 
sorrow  intolerable  to  the  wicked  ;  and  that  into  this  state  the 
Messiah  entered,  and  continued  there  until,  by  his  own  power, 
he  rose  again  from  the  dead. 


160  THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

What  was  the  object  of  the  Messiah  in  entering  this  state  ?  I 
must  confess  myself  unable  fully  to  answer  this  question.  We 
shall  all  be  satisfied  on  this  subject  when  we  ourselves  have 
entered  it.  In  our  present  state,  there  is  much  about  it  that  is 
mysterious.  One  or  two  suggestions  may,  however,  throw 
some  light  upon  this  interesting  inquiiy. 

The  Scriptures,  as  you  must  all  have  perceived,  speak  with 
great  emphasis  of  the  death  of  Christ,  of  his  offering  up  him- 
self, and  being  by  his  death  specially  the  means  of  our  re- 
demption. It  may  be  that  there  were  some  parts  of  this  great 
transaction  that  could  be  perfected  only  at  or  after  his  death.  It 
may  be  that  in  death  he  offered  himself  up  as  an  expiatory  sac- 
rifice, ready  and  willing  to  bear  all  that  the  law  of  God  might 
require  as  the  price  of  our  redemption.  This  may  be  the 
meaning  of  the  apostle  when  he  says,  "  If  the  blood  of  bulls 
and  of  goats  sanctifieth  to  the  purifying  of  the  flesh,  how  much 
more  shall  the  blood  of  Christ,  who,  through  the  eternal 
Spirit,"  (in  his  eternal  spiritual  nature,)  "  offered  up  himself 
without  spot  to  God,  purge  your  consciences  from  dead  works 
to  serve  the  living  God  ?  "  Here  the  apostle  seems  to  refer  to  the 
offering  up  of  himself  after  he  had  shown  himself  to  be  with- 
out spot.  This  would  lead  us  to  believe  that  a  part  of  this 
great  work  of  the  Messiah  was  to  be  performed  after  death.  It 
seems  to  intimate  that  after  his  obedience  on  earth  was  com- 
plete, he  surrendered  himself  up,  to  suffer  in  our  behalf  all 
that  was  necessary  in  order  to  render  our  pardon  and  redemp- 
tion consistent  with  infinite  holiness.  His  obedience,  however, 
had  been  so  transcendent  in  virtue,  he  had  so  triumphantly 
vanquished  all  our  spiritual  enemies,  and  put  to  shame  all  the 
powers  of  darkness,  that  I  know  not  whether  any  thing  more  was 
demanded.  "  The  Lord  was  well  pleased  for  his  righteousness' 
sake,"  (his  obedience,)  "  for  he  had  magnified  the  law  and  made 
it  honorable."  That  this  was  the  case  would  seem  probable, 
because  there  is  no  reference  in  the  Scriptures  to  his  suffering 
after  death.  This  offering  up  of  himself,  however,  may  have 
belonged  to  the  invisible  world.  Earth  had  no  theatre  on 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  161 

which  such  a  scene  could  have  been  enacted.  It  belonged  to 
the  spiritual  world  ;  it  had  respect  to  the  whole  creation  of 
spiritual  intelligences,  and  before  them  alone  could  it  be 
appropriately  displayed. 

Again  :  the  unseen  world  is  the  place  in  which  the  race  of 
man  spend  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  their  existence  prior  to 
the  resurrection.  Christ  had  established  his  dominion  on  earth 
by  triumphing  over  all  our  enemies.  It  may  be  that  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  establish  his  dominion  in  that  other  state, 
through  which  also  we  -must  pass.  In  what  manner  his  resi- 
dence and  triumph,  there,  will  affect  our  condition,  I  know  not 
that  I  am  able  to  affirm.  I  can,  however,  very  well  conceive 
that  it  would  have  been  a  very  different  state  for  the  believer, 
if  Christ  had  not  entered  it,  and  thus  triumphed  over  all  our 
enemies,  as  our  forerunner,  representative,  and  head.  I  know 
that  where  he  went,  there  it  will  be  safe  and  glorious  for  the 
believer  to  follow.  I  know  that  where  he  established  his  do- 
minion, there  it  will  be  blissful  for  a  holy  soul  to  rest.  I  know 
that  where  he  has  prepared  a  place  for  us,  there  we  shall  be 
lilled  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory. 

Besides,  we  all  know  and  feel  that,  in  consequence  of  the 
mission  of  Christ  to  our  world,  the  race  of  man,  in  its  present 
state,  is  brought  immeasurably  nearer  to  God.  God  becomes 
our  Father,  and  believers  are  his  children.  His  spirit  dwells 
on  earth,  and  holds  communion  with  the  spirits  of  the  contrite. 
We  may  thus  hold  direct  and  filial  intercourse  with  God. 
Nothing  but  our  worldliness  and  sin  prevents  him  from  mani- 
festing himself  to  us  here,  perhaps  as  unreservedly  as  he  did 
to  our  first  parents  before  they  transgressed.  Heaven  has  thus 
been  opened  to  us,  and  the  angels  of  God  are  new  ascending 
and  descending  upon  the  son  of  man.  The  meaning  of  this 
symbolical  language  is,  I  think,  apparent ;  Messiah  is  the 
medium  of  intercourse  between  earth  and  heaven. 

Now,  it  may  be  that  the  abode  of  the  Messiah  in  the  place 
of  departed  spirits,  and  the  accomplishment  of  his  work  there, 
may  have  brought  that  state  also  into  more  intimate  com- 
14* 


162  THE    WOBK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

munion  with  Heaven,  and  rejoiced  the  spirits  of  the  ju&,  ith 
new  displays  of  the  character  of  the  Most  High.  Wr.  /  can 
tell  how  much  more  hrightly  the  beams  of  eternal  love  shine 
upon  that  spiritual  world,  in  consequence  of  the  veil  which  he 
drew  aside,  when  he  burst  the  bars  of  death,  and  rose  trium- 
phant over  the  grave  ? 

I  know  not  but  this  may  also  explain  to  us  the  passages  in 
which  believers,  at  death,  are  said  to  be  present  with  the 
Lord.  It  may  be,  that,  in  consequence  of  his  triumph  there, 
the  communication  between  heaven  aad  the  believing  soul  is 
so  fully  and  unreservedly  established,  that  it  is  even  as  though 
he  were  there  continually  present.  It  may  be,  that,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  work  there,  he  is  able,  through  the  long  period 
of  separate  existence,  to  manifest  himself  to  the  spirits  of  the 
redeemed  by  such  immeasurable  outpouring  of  his  Spirit  as 
could  not  else  have  been  possible.  Thus  his  abode  there  once, 
would  render  it  the  same  to  the  believer,  as  though  he  were 
always  present.  Again  :  we  are  informed  of  the  triumph  which 
attended  his  entrance  upon  his  work  of  humiliation.  Who  can 
tell  how  glorious  in  holiness  and  love  must  his  manifestation  of 
himself  have  been  there,  when  his  work  of  sorrow  was  com- 
pleted, and  he  had  begun  to  taste  the  joys  of  his  well-earned 
victoiy !  How  delightful  would  it  be  could  we  here  on  earth 
listen  to  the  history  of  the  Savior's  life,  from  the  lips  of  those 
who  were  eye-witnesses  of  his  acts,  and  who,  with  their  own 
ears,  had  received  his  instructions !  But  how  much  more 
glorious  may  we  expect  will  be  the  narrative  of  his  appearing 
from  all  the  company  of  the  redeemed,  who  consorted  with 
him  during  the  period  of  his  residence  in  the  spiritual  state  ! 
The  few  wor^s  which  have  come  down  to  us  of  his  teaching  on 
earth  have  furnished  matter  for  profoundest  contemplation  to 
the  most  gifted  and  holy  men  who  have  lived  since  his  advent. 
How  wonderful  may  we  suppose  to  have  been  the  light  which 
Christ  in  his  spiritual  state  has  shed  upon  all  that  has  gone 
before  .in  the  lapse  of  ages,  and  all  that  shall  follow"  in  the 
cycles  of  eternity ! 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH.  163 

But  I  must  turn  from  this  subject  to  another.  Before  leav- 
ing it,  however,  I  beg  to  say  that  I  do  not  offer  all  these  sug- 
gestions as  a  part  of  revealed  truth.  I  offer  them  rather  as 
probable  suppositions.  They  may  be  all,  or  some,  or  none 
of  them,  true.  But  one  thing,  I  am  sure,  is  true ;  we  shall 
find,  when  we  enter  the  spiritual  state,  that  the  reasons  for  the 
Savior's  existence  there  were  both  more  numerous,  and  more 
glorious  than  we,  in  our  present  state,  can  possibly  conceive. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  reasons  for  the  abode  of  the 
Messiah  in  the  separate  state,  which  we  denominate  death,  it 
was  not  possible  that  he  should  be  holden  of  it.  When  his 
work  there  was  accomplished,  it  was  appointed  that  he  should 
enter  upon  the  third  state  to  Avhich  our  nature  is  to  be  raised. 
Of  his  own  power  he  returned  to  life,  for  he  "  had  power  to 
lay  down  his  life,  and  he  had  power  to  take  it  again." 

The  reason  given  in  the  Scriptures  for  his  appearing  again 
in  human  nature  is  twofold.  "  He  died  for  our  sins,"  saith 
the  apostle  Paul,  "  and  was  raised  again  for  our  justification." 
The  terms  "  for  our  justification,"  I  do  not  suppose,  mean,  that 
we  may  be  justified,  but  that  the  evidence  might  be  given,  that 
our  justification  had  been  effected.  Jesus  Christ  had  predicted 
to  his  friends  and  his  enemies  that  he  should  rise  again. 
"  Destroy  this  temple,"  said  he,  speaking  of  the  temple  of  his 
body,  "  and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  again."  "  After  I  am 
risen  again,  I  will  go  before  you  into  Galilee."  If  he  had 
not  risen  as  he  had  said,  there  would  have  been  wanting  proof, 
notwithstanding  all  his  miracles,  that  he  was  the  Messiah. 
We  should  have  known  that  a  divine  personage  had  come 
upon  earth  to  teach  us,  and  that  he  had  undertaken,  by  his 
mediatorial  work,  to  accomplish  our  redemption  ;  but  whether 
his  undertaking  had  been  successful  would  have  been  ever 
doubtful.  Who  could  tell  whether  his  mediation  had  been 
accepted,  and  whether  a  way  into  the  holiest  of  holies  had  yet 
been  opened  to  every  one  that  bclieveth  ?  But,  by  his  resur- 
rection, all  these  questions  were  answered.  It  was  now  evi- 
dent that  he  was  all  that  he  claimed  to  be,  and  that  God  was 


164         THE  WORK  OF  THE  MESSIAH. 

well  pleased  for  his  righteousness'  sake.  He  had  triumphed 
over  death,  the  result  of  our  transgi'essions  ;  and  hence  it  was 
evident  that,  as  our  nature  had  vanquished  death,  it  had  become 
to  us  a  conquered  enemy,  ana  that  sin,  which  was  the  cause  of  it, 
might  now  be  pardoned,  and  sinners  of  the  human  race  justified. 

But  this  was  not  all.  Thus  far,  there  had  been  no  clear 
revelation,  either  of  the  fact  or  the  manner  of  man's  immor- 
tality. The  ancients  generally  had  a  belief  of  the  existence 
of  the  human  spirit  after  death.  The  Hebrews,  as  we  have 
seen,  called  it  hades,  the  place  of  the  invisible.  They  also 
believed  that  it  was  a  condition  of  rewards  and  punishments. 
A  most  magnificent  poetical  description  of  this  state  is  found 
in  the  triumphal  song  of  the  Hebrews  over  the  king  of  As- 
syria, in  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah.  But 
how  long  this  state  would  continue,  whether  it  was  to  extend 
.without  change  forever,  or  to  be  terminated  at  some  remote 
period,  by  the  return  of  the  soul  to  this  world,  they  knew  not. 
It  seems  to  have  been  necessary,  by  a  visible  illustration,  to 
bring  life  and  immortality  to  light ;  and  thus  to  abolish  death, 
by  showing  that  the  power  of  Death  had  been  destroyed,  and 
his  sceptre  broken  forever. 

Now,  this  was  accomplished  by  the  resurrection  of  the 
Messiah.  He  subjected  himself  to  death.  His  mangled  corpse 
was  laid  in  the  tomb  of  Joseph.  A  great  stone  was  laid  over 
the  door  of  the  sepulchre.  The  seal  of  the  governor  was 
placed  upon  it.  A  Roman  guard  was  stationed  around  it,  for 
the  express  purpose  of  preventing  deception.  "  We  remember 
that  this  deceiver  said  while  he  was  yet  alive,  After  three 
days,  I  will  rise  again :  command,  therefore,  that  the  sepul- 
chre be  made  sure  until  the  third  day."  Every  means  that 
power  or  ingenuity  could  devise,  was  employed  to  retain  the 
body  of  the  Messiah  in  the  grave,  and  thus  bafile  the  hopes 
of  his  bewildered  disciples. 

On  the  morning  of  the  third  day,  when  his  followers  were 
covered  with  shame,  because  they  had  expected  that  this  had 
been  he  who  was  to  redeem  Israel,  while  his  few  remaining 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH.  105 

friends  were  already  preparing  spices  to  embalm  the  corpse 
of  the  teacher  whom  they  loved,  that  body  underwent  a  most 
miraculous  transformation.  That  change  passed  upon  it  which 
we  have  ever  since  called  a  resurrection.  The  spirit  was 
again  reunited  to  it  It  became  once  more  instinct  with  life. 
Remarkable  prodigies  attended  the  event.  There  was  a  great 
earthquake,  "  for  the  angel  of  the  Lord  descended  from  heaven, 
and  came  and  rolled  back  the  stone  from  the  door,  and  sat 
upon  it.  His  countenance  was  like  lightning,  and  his  raiment 
white  as  snow,  and  for  fear  of  him  the  keepers  did  shake,  and 
become  as  dead  men."  Henceforth  the  Messiah  appeared  as 
the  first  fruits  of  them  that  slept. 

But  what  is  the  meaning  of  the  words,  "  \\\QJirst  fruits  of 
them  that  slept"  ?  How  was  the  Messiah  the  "jirst  fruits"  ? 
Several  cases  had  before  occurred  in  which  the  dead  had  been 
restored  to  life,  and  the  spirit  recalled  to  inhabit  again  its  tab- 
ernacle of  clay.  The  young  man  whose  dead  body  touched 
the  bones  of  the  prophet  Elisha,  arose  again  to  life.  The 
prophet  himself  restored  from  the  dead  the  son  of  the  Shu- 
nammite  woman.  Our  Lord  had  raised  to  life  the  son  of  the 
widow  of  Nain.  In  a  more  solemn  and  public  manner,  in  the 
presence  of  a  multitude,  he  had  recalled  the  spirit  of  Lazarus, 
who  had  lain  four  days  in  the  grave.  These  were  all  cases  in 
which  the- spirit  had  been  reunited  to  the  body  after  they  had 
been  for  a  greater  or  less  time  separated  from  each  other.  In 
what  sen.se,  then,  was  it  true  that  the  risen  Messiah  was  the- 
fir st  fruits  of  them  that  slept? 

I  answer :  the  difference  between  the  two  cases  is  exceed- 
ing great.  Those  which  I  have  spoken  of  were  merely 
instances  of  revivification.  The  spirit  was  recalled  to  inhabit 
again  a  mortal  body,  still  under  the  power  of  death,  and,  by 
the  conditions  of  its  being,  again,  by  necessity,  to  die  as  it  had 
died  before,  and  crumble  back  to  its  original  dust.  In  these 
cases,  the  power  of  death  was  only  for  a  time  arrested.  It 
was  demonstrated  that  there  was  a  being  who  had  authority, 
when  he  chose,  and  in  particular  instances,  to  loosen  ibr  a 


166  THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

moment  the  bands  of  death.  But  in  these  cases,  Death  again 
resumed  his  dominion.  Those  who  had  been  raised  to  life, 
were  raised  only  to  a  mortal  life,  and  were  still  subject  to 
corruption.  It  was  not  by  these  instances  shown  that  an 
immortal  life  was  in  reserve  for  us,  and  that  we  were  at  last 
to  come  off  victorious  over  the  grave. 

But  with  the  resurrection  of  the  Messiah,  the  case  was  far 
otherwise.  This  was  not  a  revivification ;  it  was  a  resurrec- 
tion. The  mortal  body  was  changed  into  a  glorious,  an 
immortal,  an  incorruptible  body,  no  more  liable  to  death  ;  and 
with  this  body  the  spirit  of  Christ  was  again  united.  It  was  in 
this  glorified  body  that  he  appeared  after  his  resurrection.  It 
was  in  this  that  he  ascended.  It  is  this  that  he  wears  on  the 
right  hand  of  God.  It  is  in  this  that  he  is  the  head  over  all 
things  to  his  church ;  and  thus  will  he  continue,  until  he  shall 
have  delivered  up  the  kingdom  to  God,  even  the  Father.  It  is 
in  this  respect  that  he  is  the  first  fruits.  And  as  he,  our 
representative  and  head,  has  been  clothed  with  this  body,  so 
shall  every  one  of  us  be  clothed  with  a  similar,  an  incorrupti- 
ble body. 

But  what  is  this  spiritual  body  ?  I  confess  I  cannot  tell. 
There  is  nothing  like  it  among  things  material.  Neither  I  nor 
any  one  on  earth  has  ever  seen  it ;  nor,  probably,  could  we 
cognize  it  by  any  of  our  senses.  The  apostle  Paul,  who,  in 
the  fifteenth  chapter  of  the  First  of  Corinthians,  has  treated  on 
this  subject  more  at  large  than  it  is  elsewhere  treated  of, 
speaks  of  it  as  a  mystery.  He  pretends  not  to  describe  it,  but 
reasons  analogically  to  show  \\iat  our  inability  to  cognize  it  is 
no  proof  that  it  does  not  exist.  All  the  information  which  he 
gives  is  summed  up  in  these  words  :  "  It  is  sown  in  corruption, 
it  is  raised  in  incorruption.  It  is  sown  in  dishonor,  it  is  raised 
in  glory.  It  is  sown  in  weakness,  it  is  raised  in  power.  It  is 
sown  a  natural  body,  it  is  raised  a  spiritual  body." 

Now,  with  this  description,  —  if  indeed  description  it  may  be 
called, — the  body  borne  by  the  Messiah,  so  far  as  we  can  see, 
corresponded.  It  seems  to  have  changed  all  its  relations  to 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH.  167 

matter.  The  stone  at  the  mouth  of  the  sepulchre  could  not 
confine  it.*  That  stone  was  rolled  away,  not  to  allow  the  spirit- 
ual body  of  the  Messiah  to  come  forth,  but  to  allow  the  weep- 
ing disciples,  who  had  come  to  embalm  him,  to  see  the  place 
where  their  Lord  had  lain.  Bolts  and  bars  could  not  exclude 
it,  for  when  the  doors  were  shut,  where  the  disciples  were  assem- 
bled for  fear  of  the  Jews,  came  Jesus,  and  stood  in  the  midst, 
and  saith  unto  them,  "  Peace  be  unto  you." 

It  seems  to  have  been  a  body  henceforth  incapable  of  suffer- 
ing from  any  form  of  material  injury.  It  yet  bore,  unharmed, 
the  print  of  the  nails  in  its  hands,  and  that  ghastly  wound 
in  the  side,  made  by  the  spear  of  the  soldier.  "  Then  saith  he 
to  Thomas,  Reach  hither  thy  finger,  and  behold  my  hands,  and 
reach  hither  thy  hand,  and  thrust  it  into  my  side,  and  be  not 
faithless,  but  believing."  But  these  wounds  created  neither 
pain  nor  suffering  to  this  glorified  body.  Nay,  are  we  not 
taught  that  the  spiritual  body  of  the  Messiah  yet  bears  those 
scars  which  it  received  in  its  last  conflict  with  our  spiritual 
enemies  ?  "  I  beheld,  and  lo,  in  the  midst  of  the  throne,  stood 
a  Lamb,  as  it  had  been  slain.  And  I  heard  the  voice  of  many 
angels  round  about  the  throne,  saying  with  a  loud  voice, 
Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  to  receive  power,  and 
riches,  and  wisdom,  and  strength,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and 
blessing." 

This  body  of  the  Messiah  seems  to  have  been  in  all  respects 
subject  to  the  will  of  the  spirit  which  inhabited  it.  It  could,  at 
pleasure,  be  present  or  absent,  in  the  upper  chamber  at  Jeru- 
salem, or  in  the  mountains  of  Galilee,  or  on  the  shore  of  the 
lake  of  Genesaret.  Even  its  outward  manifestations  to  others 
seemed  to  depend  wholly  upon  the  volition  of  the  spirit  with 
which  it  was  united.  Now,  the  Messiah  seems  to  his  disciples 
as  an  humble  wayfaring  man,  on  the  road  to  Emmaus  ;  on 
the  instant,  he  appears  to  them  in  his  proper  person,  and 
vanishes  out  of  their  sight.  Sometimes  he  is  not  only  visible, 
but  tangible,  so  that  they  can  have  no  doubt  of  his  identity. 
All  these  manifestations  are  wholly  inconsistent  with  the  ordi- 


168  THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

nary  laws  to  which  matter  is  subjected.  They  belong  not  to  a 
natural,  but  to  a  spiritual  body. 

All  this,  I  know,  is  profoundly  mysterious.  We  know  of 
nothing  on  earth  like  it.  We  must  receive  it  as  a  matter  of 
testimony,  and  we  can  go  no  farther.  I  do  not  suppose  that 
in  our  present  state,  we  possess  the  faculties  for  obtaining  any 
more  perfect  knowledge  on  the  subject.  The  apostle  Paul 
does  not  pretend  to  explain  it.  He,  however,  teaches  us,  that 
this  doctrine  finds  its  analogy  in  the  ordinary  process  of  vege- 
tation. We  plant  a  seed ;  it  decays  in  the  ground.  Soon  it 
germinates,  arid  appears  in  a  form  wholly  unlike  the  grain 
which  we  had  planted ;  "  God  having  given  it  a  body  as  it 
hath  pleased  him."  So,  now,  in  the  autumn  of  the  year,  a 
dry  and  unsightly  seed  falls,  and  is  buried  in  the  earth.  It  lies 
for  months  beneath  the  snows  of  winter.  At  length,  the  sun, 
emblem  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  warms  it  with  his  beams, 
and  it  rises  from  its  lowly  bed  in  a  new  and  beautiful  form, 
resplendent  in  color,  and  refreshing  in  fragrance,  to  show  forth 
the  praises  of  Him  who  hath  clothed  it  by  an  act  of  his  omnip- 
otent power.  Thus  the  body  of  the  Messiah  was  laid  in  the 
grave,  mortal  and  corruptible ;  but  soon  it  appeared  clothed 
in  the  garments  of  immortality,  prepared  to  ascend  and  take 
its  appointed  place  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high, 
where  he  ever  liveth  to  intercede  for  us. 

It  was  in  this  glorified  body  that  1  suppose  our  Savior  to 
have  dwelt  for  some  weeks  on  earth,  showing  himself  alive  by 
many  infallible  proofs.  In  this  body,  as  he  was  blessing  his 
disciples  on  a  mountain  in  Bethany,  "  he  was  parted  from 
them,  and  carried  up  into  heaven,  and  a  cloud  received  him 
out  of  their  sight."  In  this  body  he  still  lives  to  intercede  for 
his  people.  In  this  body  he  will  come  to  judge  the  world. 
For,  said  the  angels  at  his  ascension,  "  This  same  Jesus,  who 
is  taken  up  from  you  into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner 
as  ye  have  seen  him  go  into  heaven."  When  this  last  act 
shall  have  been  performed,  the  mystery  of  redemption  will 
have  been  completed,  the  history  of  this  world  will  be  closed, 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH.  169 

and  the  Messiah  will  surrender  up  the  mediatorial  kingdom 
unto  the  Father,  that  God  may  be  all  in  all. 

We  see,  thus,  the  nature  of  the  mediatorial  work  of  the 
Messiah.  He  took  upon  him  our  nature ;  he  subjected  himself 
to  the  law  appointed  for  humanity ;  he,  by  his  obedience  unto 
death,  magnified  the  law  which  we  had  dishonored ;  he  offered 
himself  without  spot  in  our  stead ;  he  entered  that  spiritual 
state  which  is  appointed  for  us  ;  there  he  established  his  domin- 
ion, and  prepared  a  place  for  us ;  he  left  the  abode  of  the 
dead,  bearing  with  him  a  glorified  body,  like  to  that  in  which 
his  disciples  shall  be  clothed  ;  he  ascended  to  his  Father  and 
our  Father,  to  his  God  and  our  God,  as  our  forerunner  and 
head,  to  take  possession,  in  our  behalf,  of  that  glorified  state,  to 
which  all  his  members  shall,  after  the  final  judgment,  be 
introduced. 

If  this  be  so,  we  can  well  perceive  that  the  advent  and 
work  of  the  Messiah  is  the  one  great  event  in  the  history  of 
our  world.  It  is  the  visit  to  our  globe  of  Him  "  before  whose 
face  the  heavens  and  the  earth  shall  flee  away,  and  there 
shall  be  no  more  place  left  for  them."  It  is  the  pivot  on 
which  the  destiny  of  man  was  turned  from  everlasting  despair 
to  immeasurable  and  inconceivable  hope.  It  is  the  act  by 
which  the  condemnation  of  the  second  death  is  lifted  off  from 
our  race,  and  the  way  is  laid  open  for  us  to  enter  into  the 
holiest  of  holies,  through  the  blood  of  the  everlasting  cove- 
nant. If  this  be  so,  well  may  all  the  previous  history  of  our 
world  have  been  one  series  of  preparations  for  the  coming 
of  the  Son  of  man.  Well  may  we  anticipate  that  all  its  sub- 
sequent history  will  be  so  ordained  as  to  unfold  the  results  of 
this  great  transaction.  "  The  heathen  have  been  given  to  the 
Son  for  his  inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth 
for  his  possession."  He  is  now  rapidly  unfolding  his  pur- 
poses, and  claiming  the  promise  that  was  made  to  him  of 
universal  dominion.  "  Because  he  was  made  obedient  unto 
death,  the  death  of  the  cross,  God  hath  highly  exalted 
him,  and  given  him  a  name  that  is  above  every  name  ;  that 
15 


170  THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

at  the  name  of  Jesus,  every  knee  shall  bow,  and  every  tongue 
confess,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the 
Father." 

A  few  reflections  naturally  arise  from  this  subject,  to  which 
I  would  call  your  attention  before  1  close  this  discourse. 

I  remarked  just  now  that  Jesus  Christ  is  called  the  first 
fruits  of  them  that  slept ;  that  is,  he  is  the  first  of  those  born 
of  woman  who  has  passed  through  all  the  changes  to  which 
humanity  is  appointed.  In  all  this,  he  is  the  representative 
of  our  race.  Every  one  of  us  must  therefore  pass  through 
all  the  changes  to  which  I  have  alluded.  We  are  now  in  the 
condition  of  earthly  humanity.  Soon  we  all  shall  lay  aside 
these  tenements  of  clay,  and  enter  upon  the  state  of  the 
departed.  There  shall  we  reside  until  the  morning  of  the 
resurrection,  "  when  the  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from 
heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and 
with  the  trump  of  God  ;  and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise 
first ;  then  shall  we  which  are  alive  be  caught  up  together  in 
the  clouds  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air,  and  so  shall  we  ever 
be  with  the  Lord."  Every  one  of  us  will  then  be  clothed 
with  an  incorruptible  body.  Death  can  no  more  have  do- 
minion over  us.  The  seal  of  immortality  will  be  impressed 
upon  us,  never  to  be  erased  forever.  Such  are  the  changes 
that  await  every  one  born  of  woman.  Such  is  the  life  and 
immortality  which  Jesus  Christ  has  brought  to  light.  Irre- 
spective of  the  truth  which  he  has  taught  us,  all  beyond  the 
grave  is  shadows,  clouds,  and  darkness.  The  light  which 
shines  from  the  cross  of  Christ,  under  which  the  believer 
reposes,  streams  through  the  dark  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death,  until  it  is  reflected  back  from  the  throne  of  the  King 
eternal,  immortal,  and  invisible.  But  this  is  not  all.  While 
we  are  thus  taught  the  nature  of  the  changes  through  which 
humanity  must  pass,  we  are  also  taught  that,  at  death,  an 
eternal  separation  must  take  place  between  the  righteous  and 
the  wicked.  In  the  spiritual  state,  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus 
were  separated  from  each  other  by  an  impassable  gulf.  At 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH.  171 

the  final  judgment,  Jesus  Christ  will  say  to  those  on  his  right 
hand,  "  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom 
prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,"  and  to 
those  on  the  left  hand,  "  Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed,  into 
everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels." 
"  And  these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment,  but 
the  righteous  into  life  eternal." 

It  was  because  we  were  all  exposed  to  the  condemnation 
of  the  second  death,  that  the  Messiah  came  to  our  earth, 
assumed  our  nature,  and  undertook  the  work  of  our  redemp- 
tion. For  this  purpose,  he  left  the  glory  which  he  had  with 
the  Father  before  the  world  was  ;  was  born  of  a  woman ; 
was  made  under  the  law ;  endured  the  contradiction  of  sin- 
ners ;  was  made  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the 
cross  ;  under  the  hiding  of  his  Father's  face,  he  triumphed 
over  our  enemies,  and  said, "  It  is  finished,"  and  gave  up  the 
ghost;  for  us,  he  entered  the  place  of  the  departed,  and 
there  prepared  a  place  for  us ;  for  our  justification,  he  rose 
again,  in  an  immortal  body,  like  unto  that  with  which  we 
shall  be  clothed  ;  for  us,  he  ascended  and  is  "  seated  on  the 
right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high,  having  obtained  eternal  re- 
demption for  us."  This  work  was  accomplished  for  the  whole 
race  of  man.  The  conditions  of  our  probation  have  thus 
been  reversed.  Irrespective  of  the  work  of  the  Messiah,  the 
announcement  from  the  throne  of  God  was,  "Cursed  is  he 
that  continueth  not  in  all  things  written  in  the  book  of  the  law 
to  do  them  ;  "  "  but  now  God  can  be  just  and  the  justifier  of 
every  one  that  believeth  in  Jesus."  "  Whosoever  believeth 
in  him  shall  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 

The  offer  of  eternal  life,  through  the  merits  of  a  crucified 
Redeemer,  is  freely  made  to  every  child  of  Adam.  "  It  is  a 
faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that  Christ 
Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners."  "  The  Spirit 
and  the  bride  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  heareth  say, 
Come.  And  let  him  that  is  athirst  come.  And  whoso- 
ever will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely." 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    MESSIAH. 

then,  we  are  ambassadors  for  Christ ;  as  though  God  did 
beseech  you  by  us,  we  pray  you,  in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye 
reconciled  to  God."  Such  is  the  most  merciful  invitation  of 
the  gospel.  The  gate  of  heaven,  through  the  mediation  of 
Christ,  is  as  wide  open  to  us  as  the  gate  of  hell.  If,  after 
all  this,  we  choose  the  pleasures  of  sin,  and  refuse  the  mercy 
of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  our  doom  must  be  inevitable,  for 
there  remaineth  no  other  sacrifice  for  sin.  We  ourselves 
must  confess  that  we  are  without  excuse,  and  unite  with  the 
whole  moral  universe  in  pronouncing  the  sentence  of  our 
own  condemnation.  "  He  that  despised  Moses1  law,  died 
without  mercy  under  two  or  three  witnesses ;  of  how  much 
more  punishment  shall  he  be  thought  worthy,  who  hath  trod- 
den under  foot  the  Son  of  God,  and  hath  counted  the  blood 
of  the  covenant,  with  which  he  was  sanctified,  an  unholy 
thing,  and  hath  done  despite  unto  the  Spirit  of  grace/' 

Can  we  endure  an  eternity  under  such  a  condemnation  as 
this  ?  Let  us,  then,  now,  while  it  is  an  acceptable  time,  seek 
to  escape  from  it.  Let  us  now  turn  to  God  by  repentance, 
and  surrender  our  whole  souls  unto  him.  Like  the  returning 
prodigal,  let  us  arise  and  go  to  our  Father,  and  say  unto  him, 
"  Father,  I  have  sinned  against  Heaven  and  in  thy  sight,  and 
am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son."  While  we  are 
yet  a  great  way  off1,  our  Father  in  heaven  will  see  us,  and 
meet  us  in  love,  and  say,  "  Bring  forth  the  best  robe,  and  put 
it  on  him,  for  this  my  son  was  dead,  and  is  alive  again,  he 
was  lost,  and  is  found." 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH. 


"A  MAN  18  JUSTIFIED  BT  FAITH,   WITHOUT  THE  "WORKS   OF  THE    LAW." 

Romans  iii.  28. 

To  be  justified,  as  I  have  elsewhere  said,  may  have  two 
meanings.  It  may  signify  that  a  man  has  committed  no 
crime,  and  therefore  the  law  has  no  demand  upon  him ;  or 
that,  though  he  be  guilty,  yet  he  is  treated  as  though  he  were 
innocent ;  the  demand  of  the  law  against  him  having  been, 
for  some  cause,  set  aside.  That  it  is  used  in  the  context,  in 
the  second  of  these  senses,  is  manifest.  The  apostle  is  here 
speaking  of  those  whom  he  has  shown  to  be  sinners  exceed- 
ingly, and  of  whom  justification,  on  the  ground  of  the  works 
of  the  law,  —  that  is,  of  obedience  to  the  law,  —  could  in  no 
manner  be  predicated.  It  is  while  speaking  of  such  men, 
who  have  "  sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God," 
that  he  uses  the  words  of  the  text,  —  "  therefore  we  conclude 
that  a  man  is  justified  by  faith,  without  the  works  of  the  law." 

The  meaning  of  the  phrase,  "  without  the  works  of  the 
law,"  may  be  easily  explained.  It  clearly  does  not  mean 
that  there  is  no  connection  between  justification  and  keeping 
the  law,  or  between  salvation  and  obedience.  Such  a  senti- 
ment as  this  would  be  utterly  at  variance  with  every  word 
uttered  by  Christ  and  his  apostles  ;  nay,  with  the  whole  tenure 
of  the  Scriptures.  "  He  that  keepeth  my  commandments," 
saith  the  Savior,  "  he  it  is  that  loveth"  me  ;  and  he  that  loveth 
me  shall  be  loved  of  my  Father,  and  I  will  love  him,  and  will 
manifest  myself  unto  him."  "  Whosoever  hearoth  these 
15* 


174  JUSTIFICATION    BY    FAITH. 

sayings  of  mine,  and  doeth  them,  I  will  liken  him  to  a  wise 
man,  which  built  his  house  upon  a  rock."  "  And  every  one 
that  heareth  these  sayings  of  mine,  and  doeth  them  not,  shall 
be  likened  to  a  foolish  man,  which  built  his  house  upon  the 
sand."  So,  also,  the  apostle  Paul :  "  What  shall  we  s-ay  then  ? 
Shall  we  continue  in  sin  that  grace  may  abound  ?  God  forbid. 
How  shall  we,  who  are  dead  to  sin,  continue  any  longer 
therein  ?  "  "  Know  ye  not  that  so  many  of  us  as  were  baptized 
into  Jesus  Christ  were  baptized  into  his  death  ?  Therefore  we 
are  buried  with  him  by  baptism  into  death,  that,  like  as  Christ 
was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father,  even 
so  we  also  should  walk  in  newness  of  life."  "  Knowing  this, 
that  our  old  man  is  crucified  with  him,  that  the  body  of  sin 
might  be  destroyed,  that  henceforth  we  should  not  serve  sin." 
In  fact,  the  whole  object  of  the  apostle,  in  the  sixth,  seventh, 
and  eighth  chapters  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  is  to  show 
that  holy  obedience  is  by  necessity  the  result,  and  the  result 
only,  of  faith  in  Christ. 

When  the  text,  then,  asserts  that  we  are  justified  without  the 
deeds  of  the  law,  it  cannot  .mean  to  teach  us  that  the  connection 
between  justification  and  good  works  is  severed  by  the  gospel. 
The  passages  which  I  have  quoted  show,  beyond  question,  that 
good  works  are  essential  both  to  justification  and  faith ;  that 
without  good  works  faith  is  impossible,  and  the  hope  of  justifi- 
cation a  fallacy.  Their  meaning,  then,  must  be,  that  good 
works,  the  works  of  the  law,  are  not  the  ground  of  our  justifi- 
cation hi  the  sight  of  God,  but  that  the  ground  of  our  justifica- 
tion is  faith  in  Christ.  It  is  by  virtue  of  faith  in  Christ  that  we 
are  pardoned  and  justified  ;  and  the  result  of  this  change  in  our 
moral  condition  is  a  new  life,  which,  by  necessity,  manifests 
itself  in  works  acceptable  to  God.  The  order  of  these  acts  is 
then  the  following :  In  consequence  of  faith  in  Christ  we  are 
justified,  that  is,  pardoned,  treated  by  God  as  just ;  by  faith, 
also,  a  new  life  is  commenced  in  the  soul ;  and  this  life  ever 
makes  itself  known  by  corresponding  actions.  Thus  saith  the 
apostle :  "  For  what  the  law  could  not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak 


JUSTIFICATION    BY    FAITH.  175 

through  the  flesh,  God,  sending  his  own  Son  in  the  likeness 
of  sinful  flesh,  and  by  "  (a  sacrifice  for)  "  sin,  condemned  sin 
in  the  flesh,  that  the  righteousness  of  the  law  might  be  fulfilled 
in  us,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  spirit." 

If  this  be  true,  it  follows  that  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance 
for  us  to  ascertain,  as  accurately  as  possible,  the  nature  of 
faith.  This  is  the  subject  which  I  propose  to  consider  in  the 
present  discourse.  It  is  my  desire  to  present  it  before  you 
with  the  greatest  simplicity,  so  that  every  one  of  us  may  be 
the  better  able  to  determine  for  himself  whether  he  be,  or  be 
,  not,  a  believer  in  Christ  Jesus. 

\  I  think  it  must  be  evident,  on  inspection,  that  faith  can 
"^  be  no  one  external  act.  It  is  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  in 
connection  with  acts  of  the  most  dissimilar  character.  It  is 
referred  to,  from  the  commencement  to  the  close  of  the  Bible, 
as  that  alone  which  is  well  pleasing  to  God  under  every 
variety  of  dispensation  by  which  the  Most  High  has  made 
himself  known.  Thus,  we  are  told  of  the  faith  by  which  we 
understand  that  the  worlds  were  made  ;  of  the  faith  by  which 
Abel  offered  a  sacrifice,  by  which  he  obtained  witness  that  he 
was  righteous ;  of  the  faith  by  which  Enoch  had  the  testimony 
that  he  pleased  God  ;  of  the  faith  by  which  Noah  prepared  an 
ark  to  the  saving  of  his  house ;  of  the  faith  by  which  Abraham 
obeyed  the  call  to  go  out  into  the  place  which  he  should  after 
receive  for  an  inheritance,  and  by  which  he  sojourned  in  the 
land  of  promise  as  in  a  strange  country  ;  of  the  faith  by  which, 
when  he  was  tried,  he  offered  up  Isaac ;  and  of  the  faith  by 
which  "  Moses  refused  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's 
daughter,  choosing  rather  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people 
of  God  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season."  We 
read  also  of  the  faith  of  Rahab,  of  Gideon,  of  Barak,  of 
Samson,  of  Jephtha,  of  David,  of  Samuel,  and  the  prophets. 
In  the  New  Testament  we  read  of  the  faith  by  which  miracles 
were  performed,  as  well  as  of  that  faith  by  which  a  sinner  is 
justified,  and  made  a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus. 
X  Now,  from  these  examples,  it  is  manifest  that  faith  cannot 


176       *  JUSTIFICATION    BY    FAITH. 

be  any  particular  act ;  for  the  acts  by  which  it  is  exemplified 
are  as  diverse  as  any  of  which  we  can  possibly  conceive.  The 
faith  of  the  Scriptures  must  then  be  some  temper  of  mind  per- 
vading all  these  acts,  which  distinguishes  them  from  other  acts 
of  the  same  external  character ;  a  temper  of  mind  of  a  nature 
sufficiently  comprehensive  to  embrace  them  all,  how  diverse 
soever  they  may  appear  outwardly ;  and  which  shall  render 
them  all,  under  all  these  various  external  circumstances,  ac- 
ceptable to  God.  It  becomes  us  to  inquire,  What  is  this 
temper  of  mind  ?  To  this  question,  let  us,  in  the  next  place, 
,.  then,  direct  our  inquiries. 

In  order  to  illustrate  this  subject,  allow  me  to  call  your 
attention  to  the  fact,  that  all  the  social  relations  existing  among 
men  give  occasion  to  the  exercise  of  various  and  dissimilar 
affections.  The  relation  of  parent  and  child  renders  impera- 
tive, on  the  one  part,  the  feeling  of  affectionate  guardianship, 
and,  on  the  other,  of  filial  love  and  obedience.  The  relation 
of  brethren  of  one  family  imposes  upon  every  member  the 
duty  of  mutual  aid,  forbearance,  and  sympathy,  and  the  uni- 
versal feeling  from  which  such  acts  proceed.  The  magistrate 
is  bound  to  protect  the  citizen  in  the  exercise  of  his  rights ; 
the  citizen  to  obey  the  magistrate  in  the  performance  of  his 
duty.  And,  in  general,  the  tempers  of  mind,  emanating  from 
these  relations,  spontaneously  arise  in  our  bosoms  as  a  part  of 
(  our  common  nature. 

Take,  for  instance,  the  filial  relation.  Every  one  knows 
that  the  child  is  bound  to  love,  reverence,  and  obey  its  parent. 
We  cannot  conceive  of  the  character  of  a  parent  worthy  of  the 
name,  without  feeling  that  these  affections  are  his  rightful  due. 
We,  on  the  other  hand,  ascribe  to  a  child  who  displays  them 
in  an  eminent  degree,  a  high  attainment  in  virtue.  Were 
filial  obedience  the  controlling  motive  in  the  bosom  of  a  child, 
we  perceive  that  all  his  acts,  of  what  kind  soever,  would 
be  pleasing  to  his  parent,  considered  simply  as  a  parent. 
Whether  they  were  important  or  unimportant,  wise  or  unwise ; 
whether  they  had  reference  to  his  own  happiness,  or  the 


JUSTIFICATION   BY    FAITH.  177 

happiness  of  others ;  if  they  were  done  from  simple,  unaffected 
filial  love,  the  parent  could  not  but  look  upon  them  with 
respect,  and,  in  some  important  sense,  with  approbation. 
'  Now,  God  stands  to  us  in  the  relation  of  a  heavenly  Parent, 
the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  all,  endowed  with  every  moral 
excellence  of  which  we  can  conceive.  His  parental  character 
demands  from  us*  the  temper  of  filial  obedience,  or  the  obe- 
dience of  love ;  while  every  one  of  his  attributes  demands 
from  us  some  especial  form  of  moral  affection.  It  is  manifest 
that  he  being  such  as  he  is,  and  we  being  such  as  we  are,  it 
becomes  us,  from  choice,  to  regulate  our  entire  conduct  by  his 
most  blessed  will.  And,  besides  this,  the  veracity  of  God 
demands  that  we  repose  the  most  implicit  confidence  in  his 
promises.  The  goodness  of  God  should  awaken  within  us 
unceasing  gratitude.  The  justice  of  God  should  create  within 
us  Unwavering  trust  in  the  success  of  virtue.  The  holiness  of 
God  should  fill  us  with  profound  veneration,  and  an  earnest 
desire  to  be  transformed  into  his  image.  All  these,  and 
various  other  moral  affections,  are  manifestly  incumbent  upon 
us  as  the  children  of  our  Father  who  is  in  heaven,  who  has 
formed  us  in  his  likeness,  and  who  designs  that  we  should  be 
made  partakers  of  his  moral  nature.  They  may  all  be  appro- 
priately comprehended  under  the  simple  temper  of  filial  love  ; 
for  o£  this  affection  they  are  all  the  different  manifestations. 
It  is  this  affection,  or  temper  of  mind,  which  I  suppose  the 
Scriptures  to  designate  under  the  term  faith. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  How  does  this  affection  differ  from 
that  which  exists  among  the  glorified  beings  in  heaven  ?  They 
continually  exercise  these  moral  dispositions ;  and  yet  faith  is 
never  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  as  a  grace  of  the  heavenly 
rest.  Faith  is  an  affection  of  this  present  probationary  state  ; 
and  the  field  for  its  exercise  is  limited  to  the  constitution  which 
exists  on  this  side  the  grave. 

All  this  is  true,  and  it  serves  still  further  to  illustrate  the 
subject.  In  the  upper  world,  where  we  see  as  we  are  seen 
and  know  as  we  are  known,  there  is  no  opportunity  for  tho 


178  JUSTIFICATION    BY    FAITH. 

exercise  of  any  other  affection  than  perfect  love,  unmodified 
filial  obedience.  In  the  present  state,  however,  this  affection  is 
modified  by  the  circumstances  under  which  it  is  called  into 
exercise.  Here  every  thing  around  us  is  continually  tending  to 
counteract  the  exercise  of  this  holy  affection.  If  a  man  will  live 
godlily,  he  must  suffer  persecution.  The  world  around  us  com- 
mands one  thing,  and  God  commands  another.  The  punish- 
ments which  the  world  will  inflict,  if  we  disobey  it,  are  visible 
and  present.  The  rewards  of  obedience  to  God  are  invisible 
and  distant.  God,  in  the  present  state,  reveals  his  will  and 
makes  known  his  promises,  and  then  retires,  and  leaves  us  to 
contend  with  the  counteracting  influences  that  surround  us. 
Faith  is  the  exercise  of  filial  love,  successfully  resisting  the 
pressure  of  things  present,  sensual,  and  unholy.  It  is  acting 
as  God  would  have  us,  not  when  all  things  incite  us  to  obe- 
dience, but  when  all  things  around  us  incite  us  to  sin.  It  is 
the  temper  of  mind  which  thus  gives  to  things  unseen  their 
appropriate  mastery  over  things  seen  ;  it  is  the  overcoming  of 
the  world  by  the  power  of  holy  trust  in  God  ;  reliance  upon 
his  perfections,  when  every  dictate  of  human  wisdom  would 
lead  us  to  distrust  him. 

If  we  review  the  illustrations  of  the  victories  of  faith  pre- 
sented in  the  eleventh  of  Hebrews,  I  think  that  we  shall  find 
them  all  to  be  pervaded  by  this  element.  Thus  it  was  the 
commonly-received  opinion,  at  the  time  of  the  apostle,  that 
matter  was  eternal.  In  opposition  to  this,  it  is  by  faith,  simple 
confidence  in  the  testimony  of  God,  that  "  we  know  that  the 
worlds  were  framed  by  the  word  of  God,  so  that  things  which 
are  seen  are  not  made  of  things  that  do  appear."  It  was  by 
virtue  of  this  filial  disposition,  that  Abel  offered  to  God  a  more 
excellent  sacrifice  than  Cain.  It  was  by  trust  in  the  word  of 
God,  in  defiance  of  the  sneers  of  an  unbelieving  world,  that 
Noah  prepared  an  ark  to  the  saving  of  his  house.  And  thus 
Abraham  left  his  father's  house,  and  all  the  allurements  of 
home,  and  went  out,  not  knowing  whither  he  went,  sojourning 
in  tabernacles  in  a  land  of  which  he  was  not  permitted  to 


JUSTIFICATION   BY    FAITH.  179 

occupy  more  than  a  cave  for  a  burial-place.  But  I  need  not 
to  multiply  instances.  In  these,  and  all  the  other  instances  of 
triumphant  faith,  you  will  ever  ohserve  the  same  element.  It 
is  the  temper  of  filial  love,  confidence,  and  obedience,  triumph- 
ing over  the  counteracting  influences  arising  from  our  present 
state  of  ignorance  and  sin,  whether  they  proceed  from  the 
passions  that  agitate  us  within,  or  the  trials  that  disturb  us  from 
without. 

And  still  further:  I  think  that,  in  the  dispensations  of  his 
providence,  God  honors  the  principle  of  faith,  under  what  cir- 
cumstances soever  it  may  be  exhibited.  Whenever  a  creature, 
even  though  he  may  not  be  in  other  respects  obedient,  yet  on 
any  particular  occasion,  acts  from  simple  confidence  in  the 
perfections  of  the  Most  High,  —  in  that  particular  case,  God 
fulfils  to  him  his  promises,  and  grants  to  him  the  benefit  of  that 
single  act  of  confidence.  In  this  manner  Rahab  and  Gideon, 
and  Samson  and  Jephtha,  obtained  the  rewards  of  faith.  It  is 
not  necessary,  in  order  to  understand  the  declarations  concern- 
ing them  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  to  suppose  that  they 
were  persons  of  real  piety  ;  though  they  may  have  been  really 
pious.  All  that  we  need  to  believe  is,  that  they,  under  particu- 
lar circumstances,  reposed  special  confidence  in  the  promises  of 
God,  and  acted  accordingly.  This  would  insure  to  them,  in  a 
particular  instance,  the  benefit  of  faith  ;  and  hence  their  suc- 
cess may  be  enumerated  among  the  triumphs  that  belong  to 
this  moral  attribute. 

The  view  of  faith  which  I  have  here  taken  is  beautifully 
illustrated  by  an  anecdote  from  Cecil's  Remains.  His  little 
daughter  was  one  day  playing  with  some  beads,  which  delighted 
her  wonderfully.  He  told  her  to  throw  them  into  the  fire. 
"The  tears,"  said  he,  "started  into  her  eyes.  She  looked 
earnestly  at  me,  as  though  she  ought  to  have  a  reason  for 
such  a  cruel  sacrifice.  '  Well,  my  dear,  do  as  you  please  ;  but 
you  know  I  never  told  you  to  do  any  thing  which  I  did  not 
think  would  be  good  for  you.'  She  looked  at  me  a  few  mo- 
ments longer,  and  then,  summoning  up  all  her  fortitude,  her 


180  JUSTIFICATION   BY   FAITH. 

breast  heaving  with  the  effort,  she  dashed  them  into  the  fire. 
'  Well,'  said  I,  '  there  let  them  lie  ;  you  shall  hear  more  about 
them  another  time  ;  but  say  no  more  about  them  now.'  Some 
days  after,  I  bought  her  a  box  full  of  larger  beads  and  toys  of 
the  same  kind.  When  I  returned  home,  I  opened  the  treasure, 
and  set  it  before  her.  She  burst  into  tears  with  ecstasy. 
'  Those,  my  child,'  said  I, '  are  yours,  because  you  believed  me, 
when  I  told  you  it  would  be  better  for  you  to  throw  those  two 
or  three  paltry  beads  into  the  fire.  Now,  that  has  brought  you 
this  treasure.  But  now,  my  dear,  remember,  as  long  as  you 
live,  what  faith  is.' "  !  know  of  nothing  that  could  more 
clearly  illustrate  my  idea  of  faith  than  this  beautiful  incident. 
Had  the  father  brought  the  larger  toys  first,  and  told  the  child 
to  exchange  the  smaller  ones  for  them,  she  might  have  been 
obedient  and  grateful ;  but  she  would  have  manifested  no  faith. 
It  was  when  the  spirit  of  filial  love  overcame  every  other 
impulse,  and  enabled  her  to  act  in  view  of  things  unseen,  that 
her  faith  revealed  itself.  To  act  towards  God,  in  any  case,  as 
she  acted  towards  her  father,  is  faith. 

God  has  taught  us  in  the  Scriptures  that  when  a  sinner 
cherishes  this  disposition  towards  him,  he  pardons  his  sins,  and 
receives  him  into  the  number  of  his  children.  It  must,  how- 
ever, be  a  feeling  which  pervades  his  whole  nature,  and  over- 
comes every  opposing  impulse.  It  is  the  temper  of  universal 
filial  obedience.  Having  broken  the  law  of  God ;  on  the 
ground  of  having  kept  that  law,  justification  is  impossible. 
We  are,  therefore,  said  to  be  justified  without  the  deeds  of  the 
law.  God,  in  virtue  of  the  work  of  the  Messiah  in  our  behalf, 
pardons  us,  and  treats  us  as  just,  as  soon  as  he  perceives  in  us 
this  filial  disposition.  And  still  more :  this  disposition  can 
manifest  itself  in  no  other  manner  than  by  performing  those 
acts  which,  by  necessity,  emanate  from  it ;  that  is,  by  good 
works  and  holy  affections.  Thus  the  very  disposition,  on 
account  of  which  we  are  justified,  insures,  by  necessary  con- 
sequence, that  change  of  character  without  which  we  could 
never  be  acceptable  to  God. 


JUSTIFICATION    BY    FAITH.  181 

Such,  then,  is  the  nature  of  faith.  It  is,  as  we  immediately 
perceive,  the  essential  element  of  piety.  It  at  once  places  our 
moral  nature  in  harmony  with  the  moral  character  of  God  ; 
and  thus  triumphs  over  the  impulses  to  evil  arising  from  our 
present  probationary  and  sinful  state.  And  yet  more  :  as  it  is  a 
temper  which  places  us  in  harmony  with  every  attribute  of  the 
divine  nature  that  has  been  revealed  to  us,  it  may  exist  under 
every  form  of  dispensation,  and  with  eveiy  degree  of  spiritual 
illumination.  The  patriarch  Abraham  is  held  forth  for  our 
imitation  as  the  model  of  a  faithful  man,  although  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  way  of  salvation  must  have  been  obscure,  and  his 
knowledge  of  preceptive  duty  comparatively  imperfect.  As, 
in  subsequent  ages,  God  revealed  his  character  and  his  will 
more  clearly,  the  same  disposition  manifested  itself  in  devout 
submission  to  all  the  requirements  of  the  Mosaic  ritual.  It  is 
the  principle  of  correspondence  in  the  creature  with  the  moral 
nature  of  the  Creator ;  and  it  is  unfolded  more  and  more  per- 
fectly with  every  new  revelation  which  God  makes  of  himself 
to  us,  the  humble  dwellers  upon  his  footstool. 

Hence  we  see  at  once  in  what  manner  the  manifestation  of 
faith  must  be  affected  by  the  wonderful  truths  of  the  new  dis- 
pensation. It  must  transform  the  soul  into  practical  con- 
formity to  the  truth  which  God  has  revealed  concerning  his 
Son.  Let  us,  then,  observe  the  effects  which  the  revelation  of 
the  gospel  must  have  upon  a  believing  soul. 

1.  Jesus  Christ  died  to  save  sinners  justly  condemned,  and, 
therefore,  unable  by  their  own  works  to  justify  themselves. 
"  God  commendeth  his  love  to  us,  in  that,  while  we  were  yet 
sinners,  Christ  died  for  us."  "  When  we  were  withou* 
strength,  Christ  died  for  the  ungodly."  Faith  teaches  us  to 
place  ourselves  in  precisely  the  condition  which  the  word  of 
God  assigns  to  us  ;  to  confess  ourselves  helplessly  sinful  and 
justly  exposed  to  the  righteous  condemnation  of  the  law  of 
God.  Thus  saith  the  apostle,  under  the  full  impression  of 
this  truth,  "  O,  wretched  man  that  I  am  !  who  shall  deliver  me 
from  the  body  of  this  death  ?  " 
16 


182  JUSTIFICATION    BY    FAITH. 

2.  To  sinners  in  this  condition  God  makes  known  the  ofler 
of  salvation  through  Christ  Jesus.     "  God  so  loved  the  world 
that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth 
in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."     Faith 
would  teach  Us,  then,  renouncing  all  hope  of  saving  ourselves, 
to  confide  our  souls  to  Christ  as  our  only  and  all-sufficient 
Savior.     "  That  I  may,"  saith  the  apostle,  "  be  found  in  him, 
not  having  mine  own  righteousness,  which  is  by  the  law,  but 
the  righteousness  which  is  of  God  by  faith. 

3.  Christ  is  the  revealer  of  the  Father's  will.     "  He  is  the 
brightness  of  his  glory,  the   express  image  of  his  person." 
Faith  teaches  us  to  yield  up  ourselves  without  reserve,  in  holy 
obedience  to  the  precepts   which  Christ  has  given  us.     To 
them  we  must  conform  our  wills,  our  thoughts,  our  words,  our 
actions,  our  whole  being.     "  We  are  not  our  own ;  we  are 
bought  with  a  price,  that  we  should  glorify  him  in  our  bodies 
and  spirits,  which  are  his."     Nor  this  alone.     The  revelation 
which  he  has  made  to  us  is  replete  with  exceeding  great  and 
precious   promises.     Faith  teaches   us   to  give   to  them   the 
power  of  a  present  and  vivid  reality.     It  is  thus  that  it  gives 
"  substance  to  things  hoped  for,  and  evidence  to  things  not 
seen." 

4.  The  Father  has   given  to  us  the  Son  as  our  example. 
"  He  took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  was  found  in 
fashion  as  a  man."     "  He  was  made  under  the  law."     Yet  he 
was  holy,  harmless,  undefiled,  separate  from  sinners.     In  all 
the  various  trials  of  a  most  persecuted  and  tempted  life,  he 
was  ever  the  same  spotless  Redeemer,  victorious  over  every 
spiritual  enemy.     Thus  was  there  exhibited  to- us  an  illustra- 
tion of  what  the  law  of  God  requires  of  each  of  us  ;  thus  are 
we  taught  the  manner  in  which  we  should  live  so  as  to  please 
our  Father  who  is  in  heaven.     The  temper  of  filial  obedience 
would,  then,  lead  us  to  strive  with  our  whole  spiritual  might  to 
copy  the  example  which  Christ  has  set  before  us,  to  love  the 
world  as  he  loved  it ;  to  be  crucified  to  it  as  he  was  crucified 
to  it ;  and,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  a  human  proba- 


JUSTIFICATION   BY   FAITH.  183 

tion,  to  esteem  it  our  meat  and  drink  to  do  the  will  of  our 
Father  who  is  in  heaven. 

5.  And  yet  more  :   while  we  are  maintaining  this  conflict 
with  all  the  powers  of  evil,»and  fighting  the  fight  of  faith,  it  is 
by  the  aid  of  Christ  alone  that  we  can  come   off  conquerors 
He  has  promised,  if  we  do  his  will,  to  dwell  with  us  and  to  b< 
in  us.     He  is  not  only  the  way,  and  the  truth,  but  the  life,  the 
source,  and  sustainer  of  "life,  to  every  true  believer.     Faiti 
would,  then,  teach  us,  renouncing  all  dependence  upon  oui 
selves,  to  rely  wholly  for  spiritual  strength  on  the  grace  that  n 
in  Christ  Jesus.     Thus  the   apostle  declared,  "  When   I  t,»n 
weak,  then  am  I  strong ;  I  can  do  all  things  through  Je  »us 
Christ,  which  strengthened  me."     And  thus  every  belie /er 
knows  that  he  has  power  to  overcome  his  spiritual  enei.iies 
only  as,  in  deep  self-distrust,  he  learns  to  confide  in  the  aid 
bestowed  upon  him  by  the  Captain  of  his  salvation. 

If  it  be  demanded  what  are  the  counteracting  influences 
which  oppose  themselves  to  prevent  a  sinner  from  thus  be- 
lieving in  Christ,  I  answer,  they  arise  sometimes  from  without, 
in  the  form  of  allurement  or  of  menace ;  but  always  from 
within,  in  the  resistance  of  a  fallen  and  sensual  nature  to  the 
holy  and  spiritual  doctrines  of  the  gospel.  We  do  not  like  to 
acknowledge  ourselves  in  the  wrong ;  the  gospel  teaches  us 
that  without  this  acknowledgment  we  cannot  come  to  Christ. 
We  do  not  like  to  surrender  ourselves  without  any  claim  of 
merit  to  the  pure  mercy  of  God  in  Christ ;  but,  until  we  thus 
surrender  ourselves,  we  are  under  the  law.  Nothing  is  more 
difficult  than  to  renounce  our  own  will,  and  submit  ourselves  to 
the  will  of  another ;  but  until  we  thus  subject  our  whole 
nature  to  the  will  of  Christ,  we  are  not  his  disciples.  And, 
finally,  there  is  not  a  corrupt,  proud,  selfish  disposition  in  our 
whole  character,  to  which  the  example  of  Christ  is  not  in 
direct  opposition.  All  these  must  be  crucified,  if  we  would 
follow  his  example,  and  imitate  his  life.  It  is  the  spirit  of  filial 
obedience  triumphing  over  every  unholy  passion,  that  consti- 
tutes a  man  a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  makes  him  a 


184  JUSTIFICATION    BY    FAITH. 

partaker  of  the  peace  that  passeth  all  understanding.  Thus, 
in  general,  we  find,  I  think,  that  all  the  scriptural  instances  of 
faith  by  which  we  must  be  saved,  are  pervaded  by  the  same 
element ;  it  is  every  where  the  spirit  of  heaven  gaining  vic- 
tory over  the  opposing  influences  of  earth,  subduing  every 
sensual  passion  and  every  selfish  affection  of  a  human  soul. 

1.  If,  now,  the  above  explanation  of  the  nature  of  faith  be 
correct,  it  will  teach  us  the  inaccuracy  of  some  of  the  notions 
which  have  commonly  prevailed  on  this  subject.  It  has,  for 
instance,  been  frequently  affirmed,  that  faith  is  the  belief  of 
the  individual  that  Christ  died  for  him  in  particular.  If  he  can 
by  any  means  persuade  himself  that  he  is  included  in  the 
number  of  those  for  whom  an  atonement  is  made,  then  he  is 
included  in  that  number ;  he  is  an  heir  of  everlasting  life  and  a 
partaker  of  the  glory  that  is  to  be  revealed.  But,  if  faith  be 
what  I  have  supposed  it  to  be,  such  a  belief  as  this  has  not  the 
most  distant  resemblance  to  it.  It  has,  in  fact,  no  moral  quality 
whatever  ;  it  places  us  in  no  new  moral  relations  to  God,  and 
is  not  productive  of  any  change  in  character.  All  that  is 
necessary  to  produce  it,  is  a  determined  resolution  to  believe  a 
proposition,  whether  the  evidence  in  support  of  it  be  or  be  not 
sufficient.  And  hence,  when  we  would  direct  the  anxious 
inquirer  into  the  way  of  salvation,  our  effort  should  not  tend  to 
produce  in  him  the  belief  that  he  is  accepted,  but  to  lead  him 
to  that  state  of  true  submission  to  God  and  love  to  his  charac- 
ter, in  which  faith  originates,  and  which  is  the  essence  of  all 
real  piety.  To  urge  a  man  to  the  belief  that  he  is  saved 
without  this  temper  of  heart,  is  to  practise  upon  him  a  gross 
deception.  If  his  moral  affection  to  God  be  right,  peace  of 
mind  will  be  its  necessary  result ;  while  peace  of  mind  with- 
out it  is  a  lamentable  delusion. 

2.  If  the  preceding  remarks  be  correct,  we  easily  learn  what 
is  meant  by  the  prayer  of  faith,  and  the  efficacy  that  is 
ascribed  to  it.  Faith  is  a  moral  disposition  of  the  creature  in 
harmony  with  the  divine  character.  The  prayer  of  faith  is 
the  prayer  of  a  soul  in  whom  this  moral  disposition  predomi- 


JUSTIFICATION    BY    FAITH.  18/> 

nates,  and  is  such  prayer  just  in  so  far  as  our  desires  are 
in  harmony  with  the  attributes  of  God.  That  prayer  shall 
be  answered  in  proportion  to  its  conformity  to  the  will  of  God, 
is  a  matter  of  necessity.  That  prayer,  then,  which  God 
promises  to  answer,  is  the  prayer  which  proceeds  from 
ardent  love  to  him,  and  unshaken  reliance  on  the  perfections 
of  his  character,  no  matter  how  dark  and  discouraging 
may  seem  the  circumstances  that  surround  us.  It  is  at  once 
obvious,  that  the  promise  of  God  to  answer  such  prayer,  is 
a  very  different  thing  from  the  promise  to  answer  our  prayers 
if  we  only  persuade  ourselves  that  he  will  certainly  hear  us. 

3.  The  view  which  I  have  here  taken  will,  I  think,  enable 
us  to  understand  all  the  various  passages  in  the  Scriptures,  in 
which  faith  is  the  subject  of  discourse.     The  faith  of  Abel, 
of  Abraham,  of  Moses,  of  Samuel  and  the  prophets,  and  of 
Paul  and  the  apostles,  as  well  as  of  the  humblest  Christian  at 
the  present  time,  all  are  comprehended  under  the  same  idea. 
In  every  case,  it  is  the  temper  of  filial  love  triumphing  over 
the  opposing  influences  of  sin  ;  and,  under  the  new  dispen- 
sation, it  is  this  same  disposition  exalted  and  rendered  more 
all-pervading,  in   consequence   of  the   infinite   love  of  God 
revealed  to  us  in  Jesus   Christ   our  Redeemer.     Thus  the 
company  of  the  faithful,  on  earth  and  in  heaven,  are  all  per- 
vaded by  one  spirit ;  all  are  in  fellowship  with  God  and  his 
Son  Jesus  Christ ;   all  are  members  of  one  body,  of  which 
Christ  is  the  head,  and  all  heirs  of  God  and  joint  heirs  with 
Christ,  to  an  "  inheritance  incorruptible,  and  undefiled,  and 
that  fadeth  not  away."     Such  are  the  members  of  the  church 
of  the  first  born  whose  names  are  written  in  heaven. 

4.  We  learn  from  the  nature  of  faith,  the  reasonableness 
of  the  terms  on  which  salvation  is  offered  to  sinners.     God 
requires  of  us,  in  order  that  we  be  saved,  nothing  more  than 
would  be  our  duty  if  no  salvation  were  promised  —  nothing 
more  than  the  exercise,  on  our  part,  of  filial  love  towards 
our  Father  who  is  in  heaven.     This  he  deserves  on  account 
of  the  excellence  of  his  own  nature,  no  less  than  of  his 

16* 


186  JUSTIFICATION    BY    FAITH. 

exceeding  compassion  towards  us.  He  surely  could  demand 
no  less  of  his  intelligent  and  moral  creatures ;  and  we  surely 
could  desire  to  exercise  no  other  feelings  towards  the  infi- 
nitely Good,  the  Giver  of  every  good  and  perfect  gift.  And 
yet,  through  the  abounding  mercy  of  the  gospel,  he  offers  to 
all  who  exercise  such  an  affection,  and  through  it  triumph 
over  the  allurements  of  sin,  eternal  life.  I  do  not  see  how  it 
is  possible  to  conceive  of  more  merciful  terms  of  salvation 
than  those  which  are  offered  to  us  in  the  gospel.  Well  saith 
the  apostle,  "  As  ambassadors  of  Christ,  as  though  God  did 
beseech  you  by  us,  we  beseech  you,  in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye 
reconciled  to  God." 

And  if  this  be  so,  if  God  has  made  the  most  merciful  offer 
of  salvation  of  which  we  can  conceive,  this  must  be  his  final 
tender  of  reconciliation.  No  man  can  surely  either  desire 
or  expect  that  Almighty  God  would  do  more  than  he  has 
done  to  save  the  guilty  from  the  condemnation  which  they 
have  merited.  After  this,  "  there  remaineth  no  more  sacrifice 
for  sin,  but  a  certain  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment  and 
fiery  indignation,  that  shall  devour  the  adversary." 

It  is  under  these  fearful  conditions  that  our  probation  is 
now  passing  away.  We  have  merited  eternal  banishment 
from  God.  He  has  given  his  Son  for  our  offences,  and  now 
proclaims  that  "  whosoever  believeth  in  him  shall  not  perish, 
but  have  everlasting  life."  We  ourselves  must  confess  that 
no  more  favorable  conditions  could  be  offered.  The  only 
requirement  which  he  makes  is,  that  we  exercise  towards 
him  a  filial,  obedient  disposition ;  that  we  love,  with  all  our 
heart,  Him  who  is  infinitely  worthy  of  our  love ;  and  obey, 
from  affection,  him  who  is  infinitely  deserving  of  all  our 
service.  If  we  refuse,  and  prefer  to  continue  in  causeless, 
unprovoked  rebellion  against  our  Father  who  is  in  heaven, 
we  are  condemned  of  our  own  consciences.  When  he  shall 
enter  into  judgment  with  us,  every  mouth  must  be  stopped. 
What  wilt  thou  say  when  he  shall  punish  thee  ? 


A  DAY  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS  OF 
'NAZARETH. 


Luke  ix.  10—1?. 

IT  was  the  sagacious  opinion  of,  I  think,  the  late  Professor 
Person,  that  he  would  rather  see  a  single  copy  of  a  daily 
newspaper  of  ancient  Athens,  than  read  all  the  commentaries 
upon  the  Grecian  tragedies  that  have  ever  been  written.  The 
reason  for  this  preference  is  obvious.  A  single  sheet,  similar 
to  our  daily  newspapers,  published  in  the  time  of  Pericles, 
would  admit  us  at  once  to  a  knowledge  of  the  habits,  man- 
ners, modes  of  opinion,  political  relations,  social  condition, 
and  moral  attainments  of  the  people,  such  as  we  never  could 
gain  from  the  study  of  all  the  writers  that  have  ever  attempted 
to  illustrate  the  nature  of  Grecian  civilization. 

The  same  remark  is  true  in  respect  to  our  knowledge  of 
the  character  of  individuals  who  have  lived  in  a  former  age. 
What  would  we  not,  at  the  present  day,  give  for  a  few  pages 
of  the  private  diary  of  Julius  Caesar,  or  Cicero,  or  Brutus,  or 
Augustus ;  or  for  the  minute  reminiscences  of  any  one  who 
had  spent  a  few  days  in  the  company  of  either  of  these  dis- 
tinguished men  ?  What  a  flood  of  light  would  the  discovery 
of  such  a  manuscript  throw  upon  Roman  life,  but  especially 
upon  the  private  opinions,  the  motives,  the  aspirations,  the 
moral  estimates,  of  the  men  whose  names  have  become 
household  words  throughout  the  world !  A  few  such  pages 
might,  perchance,  dissipate  the  authority  of  many  a  bulky 


188       A    DAY    IN    THE    LIFE    OF    JESUS    OF    NAZARETH. 

folio  on  which  we  now  rely  with  implicit  confidence.  Not 
only  would  the  characters  of  these  heroes  of  antiquity  stand 
out  in  bolder  relief  than  they  have  ever  done,  before,  but  the 
individuals  themselves  would  be  brought  within  the  range  of 
our  personal  sympathy ;  and  we  should  seem  to  commune 
with  them  as  we  do  with  an  intimate  acquaintance. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  we  are  favored  with  a  larger 
portion  of  this  kind  of  information,  respecting  Jesus  of  Naz- 
areth, than  almost  any  other  distinguished  person  that  has 
ever  lived.  He  left  no  writings  himself;  hence  all  that  we 
know  of  him  has  been  written  by  others.  The  narrators, 
however,  were  the  personal  attendants,  and  not  the  mere 
auditors  or  pupils  of  their  Master.  The  apostles  were  mem- 
bers of  the  family  of  Jesus  ;  they  travelled  with  him,  on  foot, 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  Palestine  ;  they  partook 
with  him  of  his  frugal  meals,  and  bore  with  him  the  trial  of 
hunger,  weariness,  and  want  of  shelter ;  they  followed  him 
through  the  lonely  wilderness  and  the  crowded  street ;  they 
saw  his  miracles  in  every  variety  of  form,  and  listened  to  his 
discourses  in  public  as  well  as  to  his  explanations  in  private. 
Hence  their  whole  narrative  is  instinct  with  life  ;  a  vivid 
picture  of  Jewish  manners  and  customs,  rendered  more  defi- 
nite and  characteristic  by  the  moral  light  which  then,  for  the 
first  time,  shone  upon  it.  Hence  it  is  that  these  few  pages 
are  replete  with  moral  lessons  that  never  weary  us  in  the 
perusal,  and  which  have  been  the  source  of  unfailing  illumi- 
nation to  all  succeeding  ages. 

The  verses  which  I  have  read,  as  the  text  of  this  discourse, 
may  well  be  taken  as  an  illustration  of  all  that  I  have  here  said. 
They  may,  without  impropriety,  be  styled  a  day  of  the  life 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  By  observing  the  manner  in  which 
our  blessed  Lord  spent  a  single  day,  we  may  form  some 
conception  of  the  kind  of  life  which  he  ordinarily  led ;  and 
we  may,  perchance,  treasure  up  some  lessons  which  it  were 
well  if  we  should  exemplify  in  our  daily  practice. 

The  place  at  which  these  events  occurred  was  near  the 


A  DAY  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS  OF  NAZARETH.   189 

head  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  where  it  receives  the  waters  of  the 
upper  Jordan.  This  was  one  of  the  Savior's  favorite  places 
of  resort.  Capernaum,  Chorasin,  and  Bethsaida,  all  in  this 
immediate  vicinity,  are  always  spoken  of  in  the  Gospels  as 
towns  which  enjoyed  the  largest  share  of  his  ministerial  labors, 
and  were  distinguished  most  frequently  with  the  honor  of  his 
personal  presence.  The  scenery  of  the  neighborhood  is  wild 
and  romantic.  To  the  north  and  west,  the  eye  rests  on  the 
lofty  summits  of  Lebanon  and  Hermon.  To  the  south,  there 
opens  upon  the  view  the  blue  expanse  of  the  lake,  enclosed  by 
frowning  rocks,  which  here  and  there  jut  over  far  into  the 
waters,  and  then  again  retire  towards  the  land,  leaving  a 
level  beach  to  invite  the  labors  of  the  fisherman.  The  people, 
removed  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  metropolis  of 
Judea,  cultivated  those  rural  habits  with  which  the  simple 
tastes  of  the  Savior  would  most  readily  harmonize.  Near 
this  spot  was  also  one  of  the  most  frequented  fords  of  the 
Jordan,  on  the  road  from  Damascus  to  Jerusalem ;  and  thus, 
while  residing  here,  he  enjoyed  unusual  facilities  for  dissemi- 
nating throughout  this  whole  region  a  knowledge  of  those 
truths  which  he  came  on  earth  to  promulgate. 

Some  weeks  previously  to  the  time  in  which  the  events  spoken 
of  in  the  text  occurred,  our  Lord  had  sent  his  disciples  to 
announce  the  approach  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  in  all  the 
cities  and  villages  which  he  himself  proposed  to  visit.  He 
conferred  on  them  the  power  to  work  miracles,  in  attestation 
of  their  authority,  and  of  the  divine  character  of  him  by  whom 
they  were  sent.  He  imposed  upon  them  strict  rules  of  con- 
duct, and  directed  them,  to  make  known  to  every  one  who 
would  hear  them,  the  good  news  of  the  coming  dispensation, 
As  soon  as  he  had  sent  them  forth,  he  himself  went  immedi- 
ately abroad  to  teach  and  to  preach  in  their  cities.  As  their 
Master  and  Lord,  he  might  reasonably  have  claimed  exemption 
from  the  personal  toil  and  the  rigid  self-denials  to  which  they 
were  by  necessity  subjected.  But  he  laid  claim  to  no  sueh 
exemption.  He  commenced  without  delay  the  performance 


190       A    DAY    IN    THE    LIFE    OF    JESUS    OF    NAZARETH. 

of  the  very  same  duties  which  he  had  imposed  upon  them. 
He  felt  himself  under  obligation  to  set  an  example  of  obedi- 
ence to  his  own  rules.  "  The  Son  of  man,"  said  he,  "  came 
not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life 
a  ransom  for  many."  "  Which,"  said  he,  "  is  greater,  he  that 
sitteth  at  meat,  or  he  that  serveth  ?  but  I  am  among  you  as  he 
that  serveth."  Would  it  not  be  well,  if,  in  this  respect,  we  copied 
more  minutely  the  example  of  our  Lord,  and  held  ourselves 
responsible  for  the  performance  of  the  veiy  same  duties  which 
we  so  willingly  impose  upon  our  brethren  ?  We  best  prove 
that  we  believe  an  act  obligatory,  when  we  commence  the 
performance  of  it  ourselves.  Many  zealous  Christians  employ 
themselves  in  no  other  labor  than  that  of  urging  their  brethren 
to  effort.  Our  Savior  acted  otherwise.  In  this  respect,  his 
example  is  specially  to  be  imitated  by  his  ministers.  When 
they  urge  upon  others  a  moral  duty,  they  must  be  the  first  to 
perform  it.  When  they  inculcate  an  act  of  self-denial,  they 
themselves  must  make  the  noblest  sacrifice.  Can  we  conceive 
of  any  thing  which  would  so  much  increase  the  moral  power 
of  the  ministry,  and  rouse  to  a  flame  the  dormant  energy  of 
the  churches,  as  obedience  to  this  teaching  of  Christ  by  the 
preachers  of  his  gospel  ? 

It  seems  that  the  Savior  had  selected  a  well-known  spot,  at 
the  head  of  the  lake,  for  the  place  of  meeting  for  his  apostles, 
after  this  their  first  missionary  tour  had  been  completed. 
"  The  apostles  gathered  themselves  unto  Jesus,  and  told  him 
all  things,  both  what  they  had  done,  and  what  they  had  taught." 
There  is  something  delightful  in  this  filial  confidence  which 
these  simple-hearted  men  reposed  in  their  Almighty  Redeemer. 
They  told  him  of  their  success  and  their  failure,  of  their  wis- 
dom and  their  folly,  of  their  reliance  and  their  unbelief.  We 
can  almost  imagine  ourselves  spectators  of  this  meeting  be- 
tween Christ  and  them,  after  this  their  first  separation  from 
each  other.  The  place  appointed  was  most  probably  some 
well-known  locality  on  the  shore  of  the  lake,  under  the  shadow 
of  its  overhanging  rocks,  where  the  cool  air  from  the  bosom 


A  DAT  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS  OF  NAZARETH.    191 

of  the  water  refreshed  each  returning  laborer,  as  he  came 
back  beaten  out  with  the  fatigues  of  travel,  under  the  burning 
sun  of  Syria.  You  can  imagine  the  joy  with  which  each  drew 
near  to  the  Master,  after  this  temporary  absence  ;  and  th<; 
honest  greetings  with  which  every  new  comer  was  welcomed 
by  those  who  had  chanced  to  arrive  before  him.  We  can 
seem  to  perceive  the  Savior  of  men  listening  with  affectionate 
earnestness  to  the  recital  of  their  various  adventures ;  and 
interposing,  from  time  to  time,  a  word  either  of  encouragement 
or  of  caution,  as  the  character  and  circumstances  of  each 
narrator  required  it.  The  bosom  of  each  was  unveiled  before 
the  Searcher  of  hearts,  and  the  consolation  which  each  one 
needed  was  bestowed  upon  him  abundantly.  The  toilsome- 
ness  of  their  journey  was  no  longer  remembered,  as  each  one 
received  from  the  Son  of  God  the  smile  of  his  approbation. 
That  was  truly  a  joyful  meeting.  Of  all  that  company  there 
is  not  one  who  has  forgotten  that  day ;  nor  will  he  forget  it 
ever.  With  unreserved  frankness  they  told  Jesus  of  all  that 
they  had  done,  and  what  they  had  taught;  of  all  their  acts, 
and  all  their  conversations.  Would  it  not  be  better  for  us,  if 
we  cultivated  more  assiduously  this  habit  of  intimate  inter- 
course with  the  Savior?  Were  we  every  day  to  tell  Jesus  of 
all  that  we  have  done  and  said  ;  did  we  spread  before  him  our 
joys  and  our  sorrows,  our  faults  and  our  infirmities,,  our 
successes  and  our  failures,  we  should  be  saved  from  many  an 
error  and  many  a  sin.  Setting  "  the  Lord  always  before  us, 
he  would  be  on  our  right  hand,  and  we  should  not  be  moved." 
"  He  that  dwelleth  in  the  secret  place  of  the  Most  High  shall 
abide  under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty." 

The  Savior  perceived  that  the  apostles  needed  much  in- 
struction which  could  not  be  communicated  in  a  place  where 
both  he  and  they  were  so  well  known.  They  had  committed 
many  errors,  which  he  preferred  to  correct  in  private.  By 
doing  his  will,  they  had  learned  to  repose  greater  confidence 
in  his  wisdom,  and  were  prepared  to  receive  from  him  more 
important  instruction.  But  these  lessons  could  not  be  delivered 


192       A    DAY    IN    THE    LIFE    OP    JESUS    OF    NAZARETH. 

in  the  hearing  of  a  promiscuous  audience.  Nor  was  this  all. 
He  perceived  that  the  apostles  were  worn  out  with  their  labors, 
and  needed  repose.  Surrounded  as  they  were  by  the  multi- 
tude, which  had  already  begun  to  collect  about  them,  rest  and 
retirement  were  equally  impossible.  "  There  were  many 
coming  and  going,  and  they  had  no  leisure,  even  so  much  as 
to  eat."  He  therefore  said  to  them,  "Come,  ye  yourselves 
apart  into  a  desert  place,  and  rest  a  while."  For  this  purpose, 
he  "  took  ship,  "and  crossed  over  with  his  disciples  alone,  and 
went  into  a  desert  place  belonging  to  Bethsaida." 

The  religion  of  Christ  imposes  upon  us  duties  of  retirement, 
as  well  as  duties  of  publicity.  The  apostles  had  been  for  some 
time  past  before  the  eyes  of  all  men,  preaching  and  working 
miracles.  Their  souls  needed  retirement.  ';  Solitude,"  said 
Cecil,  "is  my  great  ordinance."  They  would  be  greatly  im- 
proved by  private  communion  both  with  him  and  with  each 
other.  It  was  for  the  purpose  of  affording  them  such  a  season 
of  moral  recreation,  that  our  Lord  withdrew  them  from  the 
public  gaze  into  a  desert  place.  Nor  was  this  all.  Their 
labor  for  some  weeks  past  had  been  severe.  They  had  trav- 
elled on  foot  under  a  tropical  sun,  reasoning  with  unbeliev- 
ers, instructing  the  ignorant,  and  comforting  the  cast  down. 
Called  upon,  at  all  hours,  both  of  the  day  and  night,  to  work 
cures  on  those  that  were  oppressed  with  diseases,  their  bodies, 
no  less  than  their  spirits,  needed  rest.  Our  Lord  saw  this, 
and  he  made  provision  for  it.  He  withdrew  them  from  labor, 
that  they  might  find,  though  it  were  but  for  a  day,  the  repose 
which  their  exhausted  natures  demanded.  The  religion  of 
Christ  is  ever  merciful,  and  ever  consistent  in  its  benevolence. 
It  is  thoughtful  of  the  benefactor  as  well  as  of  the  recipient. 
It  requires  of  us  all,  labor  and  self-sacrifice,  but  to  these  it 
affixes  a  limit.  It  never  commands  us  to  ruin  our  health  and 
enfeeble  our  minds  by  unnatural  exhaustion.  It  teaches  us  to 
obey  the  laws  of  our  physical  organization,  and  to  prepare 
ourselves  for  the  labors  of  to-morrow  by  the  judiciously  con- 
ducted labors  of  to-day.  It  was  on  this  principle  that  our  Lord 


A  DAY  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS  OF  NAZARETH.    193 

conducted  in  his  intercourse  with  his  disciples.  "  He  knew 
their  frame,  and  remembered  that  they  were  dust." 

May  we  not  from  this  incident  derive  a  lesson  of  practical 
instruction?  I  well  know  that  there  are  persons  who  are 
always  sparing  themselves,  who,  while  it  is  difficult  to  tell 
what  they  do,  are  always  complaining  of  the  crushing  weight 
of  their  labors,  and  who  are  rather  exhausted  with  the  dread 
of  what  they  shall  do,  than  with  the  experience  of  what  they 
have  actually  done.  It  is  not  of  these  that  we  speak.  Those 
who  do  not  labor  have  no  need  of  rest.  It  is  to  the  honest, 
the  painstaking,  the  laborious,  that  we  address  the  example 
in  the  text  We  sometimes  meet  with  the  industrious,  self- 
denying  servant  of  Christ,  in  feeble  health,  and  with  an 
exhausted  nature,  bemoaning  his  condition,  and  condemning 
himself  because  he  can  accomplish  no  more,  while  so  much 
yet  remains  to  be  done.  To  such  a  one  we  may  safely  pre- 
sent the  example  of  the  blessed  Savior.  When  his  apostles 
had  done  to  the  utmost  of  their  strength,  although  the  harvest 
was  great,  and  the  laborers  few,  he  did  not  urge  upon  them 
additional  labor,  nor  tell  them  that  because  there  was  so  much 
to  be  done  they  must  never  cease  from  doing.  No ;  he  tells 
them  to  turn  aside  and  rest  for  a  while.  It  is  as  though  he  had 
said,  "  Your  strength  is  exhausted ;  you  cannot  be  qualified  for 
subsequent  duty  until  you  be  refreshed.  Economize,  then, 
your  power,  that  you  may  accomplish  the  more."  The  Savior 
addresses  the  same  language  to  us  now.  When  we  are  worn 
down  in  his  service,  as  in  any  other,  he  would  have  us  rest, 
not  for  the  sake  of  self-indulgence,  but  that  we  may  be  the 
better  prepared  for  future  effort.  We  do  nothing  at  variance 
with  his  will,  when  we,  with  a  good  conscience,  use  the  liberty 
which  he  has  thus  conceded  to  us. 

Jesus,  with  his  disciples,  crossed  the  water,  and  entered  the 
desert;  that  is,  the  sparsely  inhabited  country  of  Bethsaida. 
Desert,  or  wilderness,  in  the  New  Testament,  does  not  mean 
an  arid  waste,  but  pasture  land,  forest,  or  any  district  to  which 
one  could  retire  for  seclusion.  Here,  in  the  cool  and  tran- 
17 


194       A  DAY    IN    THE    LIFE    OF    JESUS    OF    NAZARETH. 

quil  neighborhood  of  the  lake,  he  began  to  instruct  his  dis- 
ciples, and,  without  interruption,  make  known  to  them  the 
mysteries  of  the  kingdom.  It  was  one  of  those  seasons  that 
the  Savior  himself  rarely  enjoyed.  Every  thing  tended  to 
repose :  the  rustling  leaves,  the  rippling  waves,  the  song  of 
the  birds,  heard  more  distinctly  in  this  rural  solitude,  all  served 
to  calm  the  spirit  ruffled  by  the  agitations  of  the  world,  and 
prepare  it  to  listen  to  the  truths  which  unveil  to  us  eternity. 
Here  our  Lord  could  unbosom  himself,  without  reserve,  to  his 
chosen  few,  and  hold  with  them  that  communion  which  he  was 
rarely  permitted  to  enjoy  during  his  ministry  on  earth. 

Soon,  however,  the  whole  scene  is  changed.  The  multi- 
tude, whom  he  had  so  recently  left,  having  observed  the 
direction  in  which  he  had  gone,  have  discovered  the  place  of 
his  retreat.  An  immense  crowd  approaches,  and  the  little 
company  is  surrounded  by  a  dense  mass  of  human  beings 
pressing  upon  them  on  every  side.  These  are,  however,  only 
the  pioneers.  At  last,  five  thousand  men,  besides  women  and 
children,  are  beheld  thronging  around  them. 

Some  of  these  suitors  present  most  importunate  claims. 
They  are  in  search  of  cure  for  diseases  which  have  baffled 
the  skill  of  the  medical  profession,  and,  as  a  last  resort,  they 
have  come  to  the  Messiah  for  aid.  Here  was  a  parent  bring- 
ing a  consumptive  child.  There  were  children  bearing  on  a 
couch  a  paralytic  parent.  Here  was  a  sister  leading  a  brother 
blind  from  his  birth,  while  her  supplications  were  drowned  by 
the  shout  of  a  frenzied  lunatic  who  was  standing  by  her  side. 
Every  one,  believing  his  own  claim  to  be  the  most  urgent, 
pressed  forward  with  selfish  importunity.  Each  one,  caring 
for  no  other  than  himself,  was  striving  to  attain  the  front  rank, 
while  those  behind,  disappointed,  and  fearing  to  lose  this  im- 
portant opportunity,  were  eager  to  occupy  the  places  of  those 
more  fortunate  than  themselves.  The  necessaiy  tumult  and 
disorder  of  such  a  scene  you  can  better  imagine  than  I  can 
describe. 

This  was,  doubtless,  by  no  means  a  welcome  interruption. 


A    DAY    IN    THE    LIFE    OF    JESUS    OF    NAZARETH.        195 

The  apostles  needed  the  time  for  rest;  for  they  were  worn 
out  in  the  public  service.  They  wanted  it  for  instruction ; 
for  such  opportunities  of  intercourse  with  Christ  were  rare. 
But  what  did  they  do  ?  Did  our  Lord  inform  the  multitude 
that  this  day  was  set  apart  for  their  own  refreshment  and 
improvement,  and  that  they  could  not  be  interrupted  ?  As 
he  beheld  them  approaching,  did  he  quietly  take  to  his  boat, 
and  leave  them  to  go  home  disappointed  ?  Did  he  plead  his 
own  convenience,  or  his  need  of  repose,  as  any  reason  for  not 
ittending  to  the  pressing  necessities  of  his  fellow-men  ? 

No,  my  brethren,  veiy  far  from  it.  The  providence  of  God 
had  brought  these  multitudes  before  him,  and  that  same 
providence  forbade  him  to  send  them  away  unblessed.  He  at 
once  broke  up  the  conference  with  his  disciples,  and  addressed 
himself  to  the  work  before  him.  His  instructions  were  of 
inestimable  importance ;  but  I  doubt  if  even  they  were  as  im- 
portant as  the  example  of  deep  humility,  exhaustless  kindness, 
and  affecting  compassion  which,  he  here  exhibited.  When  the 
Master  places  work  before  us  which  can  be  done  at  no  other 
time,  our  convenience  must  yield  to  other  men's  necessities. 
"  The  Son  of  man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to 
minister."  You  can  imagine  to  yourself  the  Savior  rising  from 
his  seat,  in  the  midst  of  his  disciples,  and  presenting  himself 
to  the  approaching  multitudes.  His  calm  dignity  awes  into 
silence  this  tumultuous  gathering  of  the  people.  Those  who 
came  out  to  witness  the  tricks  of  an  empiric,  or  listen  to  the 
ravings  of  a  fanatic,  find  themselves,  unexpectedly,  in  a 
presence  that  repels  every  emotion  but  that  of  profound 
veneration.  The  light-hearted  and  frivolous  are  awe-struck 
by  the  unearthly  majesty  that  seems  to  clothe  the  Messiah  as 
with  a  garment.  And  yet  it  was  a  majesty  that  shone  forth 
conspicuous,  most  of  all,  by  the  manifestation  of  unparalleled 
goodness.  Every  eye  that  met  the  eye  of  the  Savior  quailed 
before  him ;  for  it  looked  into  a  soul  that  had  never  sinned  ; 
and  the  spirit  of  the  sinner  felt,  for  the  first  time,  the  full 
power  of  immaculate  virtue. 


196       A    DAY    IN    THE    LIFE    OF    JESUS    OF    NAZARETH. 

Thus  the  Savior  passed  among  the  crowd,  and  "  healed  all 
that  had  need  of  healing."  The  lame  walked,  the  lepers  were 
cleansed,  the  blind  received  their  sight,  the  paralytic  were 
restored  to  soundness,  and  the  bloom  of  health  revisited  the 
cheeks  of  those  that  but  just  now  were  sick  unto  death. 

The  work  to  be  done  for  the  bodies  of  men  was  accom- 
plished, and  there  yet  remained  some  hours  of  the  summer's 
day  unconsumed.  The  power  and  goodness  displayed  in 
this  miraculous  healing,  would  naturally  predispose  the  people 
to  listen  to  the  instructions  of  the  Savior.  This  was  too  val- 
uable an  opportunity  to  be  lost.  Our  Lord  therefore  pro- 
ceeded to  speak  to  them  of  the  things  concerning  the  kingdom 
of  God.  We  can  seem  to  perceive  the  Savior  seeking  an 
eminence  from  whence  he  could  the  more  conveniently 
address  this  vast  assembly.  You  hear  him  unfold  the  laws 
of  God's  moral  government.  He  unmasks  the  hypocrisy  of 
the  Pharisees ;  he  rebukes  the  infidelity  of  the  Sadducees  ; 
he  exposes  the  folly  of  the  frivolous,  as  well  as  of  the  selfish 
worldling  ;  he  speaks  peaceably  to  the  humble  penitent ;  he 
encourages  the  meek,  and  comforts  those  that  be  cast  down. 
The  intellect  and  the  conscience  of  this  vast  assembly  are 
swayed  at  his  will.  The  soul  of 'man  bows  down  in  rever- 
ence in  the  presence  of  its  Creator.  u  He  stilleth  the  noise 
of  the  seas,  the  noise  of  their  waves,  and  the  tumult  of  the 
people."  As  he  closes  his  address,  every  eye  is  moistened 
with  compunction  for  sin.  Every  soul  cherishes  the  hope 
of  amendment.  Every  one  is  conscious  that  a  new  moral 
light  has  dawned  upon  his  soul,  and  that  a  new  moral  universe 
has  been  unveiled  to  his  spiritual  vision.  As  the  closing 
words  of  the  Savior  fell  upon  their  ears,  the  whole  multitude 
stood  for  a  while  unmoved,  as  though  transfixed  to  the  earth 
by  some  mighty  spell ;  until,  at  last,  the  murmur  is  heard 
from  thousands  of  voices,  "  Never  man  spake  like  this  man." 

But  the  shades  of  evening  are  gathering  around  them. 
The  multitude  have  nothing  to  eat..  To  send  them  away 
fasting  would  be  inhuman,  for  divers  of  them  came  from  far, 


A  DAY  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS  OF  NAZARETH.    197 

and  many  \vere  women  and  children,  who  could  not  perform 
their  journey  homeward  without  previous  refreshment.  To 
purchase  food  in  the  surrounding  towns  and  villages  would 
be  difficult ;  but  even  were  this  possible,  whence  could  the 
necessary  funds  be  provided  ?  A  famishing  multitude  was 
thus  unexpectedly  cast  upon  the  bounty  of  our  Lord.  He 
had  not  tempted  God  by  leading  them  into  the  wilderness. 
They  came  to  him  of  themselves,  to  hear  his  words  and  to 
be  healed  of  their  infirmities.  He  could  not  "  send  them 
away  fasting,  lest  they  should  faint  by  the  way."  In  this 
dilemma,  what  was  to  be  done  ?  He  puts  this  question  to  his 
disciples,  and  they  can  suggest  no  means  of  relief.  The 
little  stock  of  provisions  which  they  had  brought  with  them 
was  barely  sufficient  for  themselves.  They  can  perceive  no 
means  whatever  by  which  the  multitude  can  be  fed,  and  they 
at  once  confess  it. 

The  Savior,  however,  commands  the  twelve  to  give  them 
to  eat.  They  produce  their  slender  store  of  provisions, 
amounting  to  five  loaves  and  two  small  fishes.  He  com- 
mands the  multitude  to  sit  down  by  companies  on  the  grass. 
As  soon  as  silence  is  obtained,  he  lifts  up  his  eyes  to  heaven, 
and  supplicates  the  blessing  of  God  upon  their  scanty  meal. 
He  begins  to  break  the  loaves  and  fishes,  and  distribute  them 
to  his  disciples,  and  his  disciples  distribute  them  to  the  multi- 
tude. He  continues  to  break  and  distribute.  Basket  after 
basket  is  filled  and  emptied,  yet  the  supply  is  undiminished. 
Food  is  carried  in  abundance  to  the  famishing  thousands. 
Company  after  company  is  supplied  with  food,  but  the  five 
loaves  and  the  two  fishes  remain  unexhausted.  At  last,  the 
baskets  are  returned  full,  and  it  is  announced  that  the  wants 
of  the  multitude  are  supplied.  The  miracle  then  ceases, 
and  the  multiplication  of  food  is  at  an  end. 

But  even  here  the  provident  care  of  the  Savior  is  mani- 
fested. Although  this  food  has  been  so  easily  provided,  it  is 
not  right  that  it  be  lightly  suffered  to  perish.  Christ  wrought 
no  miracles  for  the  sake  of  teaching  men  wastefulness.  That 
17* 


A    DAY    IN    THE    LIFE    OF    JESUS    OF    NAZARETH. 

food,  by  what  means  soever  provided,  was  a  creature  of  God, 
and  it  were  sin  to  allow  it  to  decay  without  accomplishing  the 
purposes  for  which  it  was  created.  "  Gather  up  the  frag- 
ments," said  the  Master  of  the  feast,  "  that  nothing  be  lost." 
"And  they  gathered  up  the  fragments  that  remained,  twelve 
baskets  full." 

Dissimilar  as  are  our  circumstances  to  those  of  our  Lord, 
we  may  learn  from  this  latter  incident  a  lesson  of  instruction. 

In  the  first  place,  as  I  have  remarked,  the  Savior  did  not 
lead  the  multitude  into  the  wilderness  without  making  pro- 
vision for  their  sustenance.  This  would  have  been  presump- 
tion. They  followed  him  without  his  command,  and  he  found 
himself  with  them  in  this  necessity.  He  had  provided  for 
his  own  wants,  but  they  had  not  provided  for  theirs.  The 
providence  of  God  had,  however,  placed  him  in  his  present 
circumstances,  and  he  might  therefore  properly  look  to  Prov- 
idence for  deliverance.  This  event,  then,  furnishes  the  rule 
by  which  we  are  to  be  governed.  When  we  plunge  ourselves 
into  difficulty,  by  a  neglect  of  the  means  or  by  a  misuse  of 
the  faculties  which  God  has  bestowed  upon  us,  it  is  to  be 
expected  that  he  will  leave  us  to  our  own  devices.  But 
when,  in  the  honest  discharge  of  our  duties,  we  find  our- 
selves in  circumstances  beyond  the  reach  of  human  aid,  we 
then  may  confidently  look  up  to  God  for  deliverance.  He 
will  always  take  care  of  us  while  we  are  in  the  spot  where 
he  has  placed  us.  When  he  appoints  for  us  trials,  he  also 
appoints  for  us  the  means  of  escape.  The  path  of  duty, 
though  it  may  seem  arduous,  is  ever  the  path  of  safety.  We 
can  more  easily  maintain  ourselves  in  the  most  difficult  posi- 
tion, God  being  our  helper,  than  in  apparent  security  relying 
on  our  own  strength. 

The  Savior,  in  full  reliance  upon  God,  with  only  five  loaves 
and  two  fishes,  commenced  the  distribution  of  food  amongst 
this  vast  multitude.  Though  his  whole  store  was  barely 
sufficient  to  supply  the  wants  of  his  immediate  family,  he 
began  to  share  it  with  the  thousands  who  surrounded  him. 


A  DAY  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS  OF  NAZAHETH.    199 

Small  as  was  his  provision  at  the  commencement,  it  remained 
unconsumed  until  the  deed  of  mercy  was  done,  and  the  wants 
of  the  famishing  host  were  supplied.  Nor  were  the  disciples 
losers  by  this  act  of  charity.  After  the  multitude  had  eaten 
and  were  satisfied,  twelve  baskets  full  of  fragments  remained, 
a  reward  for  their  deed  of  benevolence. 

From  this  portion  of  the  narrative,  we  may,  I  th'nk,  learn 
that  if  we  act  in  faith,  and  in  the  spirit  of  Christian  love,  we 
may  frequently  be  justified  in  commencing  the  most  impor- 
tant good  work,  even  when  in  possession  of  apparently  inade- 
quate means.  If  the  work  be  of  God,  he  will  furnish  us  with 
helpers  as  fast  as  they  are  needed.  In  all  ages,  God  has 
rewarded  abundantly  simple  trust  in  him,  and  has  bestowed 
upon  it  the  highest  honor.  We  must,  however,  remember 
the  conditions  upon  which  alone  we  may  expect  his  aid,  lest 
we  be  led  into  fanaticism.  The  service  which  we  undertake 
must  be  such  as  God  has  commanded,  and  his  providence 
must  either  designate  us  for  the  work,  or,  at  least,  open  the 
door  by  which  we  shall  enter  upon  it.  It  must  be  God's 
work,  and  not  our  own  ;  for  the  good  of  others,  and  not  for 
the  gratification  of  our  own  passions  ;  and,  in  the  doing  of  it, 
we  must,  first  of  all,  make  sacrifice  of  ourselves,  and  not  of 
others.  Under  such  circumstances,  there  is  hardly  a  good 
design  which  we  may  not  undertake  with  cheerful  hopes  ot 
success,  for  God  has  promised  us  his  assistance.  "  If  God 
be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us  ?  "  The  calculations  of  the 
men  of  this  world  are  of  small  account  in  such  a  matter.  It 
would  have  provoked  the  smile  of  an  infidel  to  behold  the 
Savior  commencing  the  work  of  feeding  five  thousand  men 
with  a  handful  of  provisions.  But  the  supply  increased  as 
fast  as  it  was  needed,  and  it  ceased  not  until  all  that  he  had 
prayed  for  was  accomplished. 

Perhaps,  also,  we  may  learn  from  this  incident  another 
lesson.  If  I  mistake  not,  it  suggests  to  us  that  in  works  of 
benevolence  we  are  accustomed  to  rely  too  much  on  human, 
and  too  little  on  divine,  aid.  When  we  attempt  to  do  good, 


200   A  DAY  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS  OF  NAZARETH. 

we  commence  by  forming  large  associations,  and  supposo 
that  our  success  depends  upon  the  number  of  men  whom  we 
can  unite  in  the  promotion  of  our  undertaking.  Every  one 
is  apt  thus  to  forget  his  own  personal  duty,  and  rely  upon  the 
labor  of  others,  and  it  is  well  if  he  does  not  put  his  organiza- 
tion in  the  place  of  God  himself.  Would  it  not  be  better  if 
We  made  benevolence  much  more  a  matter  between  God  and 
our  own  souls,  each  one  doing  with  his  own  hands,  in  firm 
reliance  on  divine  aid,  the  work  which  Providence  has  placed 
directly  before  him  ?  Our  Lord  did  not  send  to  the  villages 
round  about  to  organize  a  general  effort  to  relieve  the  famish- 
ing. In  reliance  upon  God,  he  set  about  the  work  himself, 
with  just  such  means  as  God  had  afforded  him.  All  the 
miracles  of  benevolence  have,  if  I  mistake  not,  been  wrought 
in  the  same  manner.  The  little  band  of  disciples  in  Jerusa- 
lem accomplished  more  for  the  conversion  of  the  world  ihan 
all  the  Christians  of  the  present  day  united.  And  why  ?  Be- 
cause every  individual  Christian  felt  that  the  conversion  of 
the  world  was  a  work  for  which  he  himself,  and  not  an 
abstraction  that  he  called  the  church,  was  responsible.  Instead 
of  relying  on  man  for  aid,  every  one  looked  up  directly  to 
God,  and  went  forth  to  the  work.  God  was  thus  exalted,  the 
power  was  confessed  to  be  his  own,  and,  in  a  few  years,  the 
standard  of  the  cross  was  carried  to  the  remotest  extremities 
of  the  then  known  world. 

Such  has,  I  think,  been  the  case  ever  since.  Every  great 
moral  reformation  has  proceeded  upon  principles  analogous  to 
these  It  was  Luther,  standing  up  alone  in  simple  reliance 
upon  God,  that  smote  the  Papal  hierarchy ;  and  the  effects  of 
that  blow  are  now  agitating  the  nations  of  Europe.  Roger 
Williams,  amid  persecution  and  banishment,  held  forth  that 
doctrine  of  soul-liberty  which,  in  its  onward  march,  is  disen- 
thralling a  world.  Howard,  alone,  undertook  the  work  of 
showing  mercy  to  the  prisoner,  and  his  example  is  now 
enlisting  the  choicest  minds  in  Christendom  in  this  labor  of 
benevolence.  Clarkson,  unaided,  a  young  man,  and  without 


A    DAY    IN    THE    LIFE    OF    JESUS    OF    NAZARETH.       201 

influence,  consecrated  himself  to  the  work  of  abolishing  the 
slave  trade ;  and,  before  he  rested  from  his  labors,  his  country 
had  repented  of  and  forsaken  this  atrocious  sin.  Raikcs  saw 
the  children  of  Gloucester  profaning  the  Sabbath  day ;  he  set 
on  foot  a  Sabbath  school  on  his  own  account,  and  now  millions 
of  children  are  reaping  the  benefit  of  his  labors,  and  his 
example  has  turned  the  attention  of  the  whole  world  to  the 
religious  instruction  of  the  young.  With  such  facts  before  us, 
we  surely  should  be  encouraged  to  attempt  individually  the 
accomplishment  of  some  good  design,  relying  in  humility  and 
faith  upon  Him  who  is  able  to  grant  prosperity  to  the  feeblest 
effort  put  forth  in  earnest  reliance  on  his  almightiness. 

Such  were  the  occupations  that  filled  up  a  day  in  the  life  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  There  was  not  an  act  done  for  himself; 
all  was  done  for  others.  Every  hour  was  employed  in  the 
labor  which  that  hour  set  before  him.  Private  kindness,  the 
relief  of  distress,  public  teaching,  and  ministration  to  the  wants 
of  the  famishing,  filled  up  the  entire  day.  Let  his  disciples 
learn  to  follow  his  example.  Let  us,  like  him,  forget  our- 
selves, our  own  wants,  and  our  own  weariness,  that  we  may, 
as  he  did,  scatter  blessings  on  every  side,  as  we  move  onward 
in  the  pathway  of  our  daily  life.  If  such  were  the  occupations 
of  the  Son  of  God,  can  we  do  more  wisely  than  to  imitate  his 
example  ?  Every  disciple  would  then  be  as  a  city  set  upon  a 
hill,  and  men,  seeing  our  good  works,  would  glorify  our  Father 
who  is  in  heaven.  "  Then  would  our  righteousness  go  forth 
as  brightness,  and  our  salvation  as  a  lamp  that  burneth." 


THE    FALL    OF    PETER. 


"AND  WHEN  HE   THOUGHT  THEREON,    HE   'WEPT." 

Mark  xiv.  72. 

FEW  narratives  in  the  gospel  history  are  more  deeply  im- 
bued with  practical  instruction  than  that  which  relates  the  /all 
and  the  repentance  of  Peter,  the  apostle.  The  character  of 
the  man,  his  ardent  zeal,  and  yet  too  fluctuating  purpose,  the 
circumstances  of  the  case,  its  intimate  connection  with  the 
sacred  supper,  the  agony  in  the  garden,  the  hall  of  Pilate,  the 
betrayal  and  the  crucifixion  of  the  Redeemer,  all  conspire  to 
bring  this  portion  of  the  sacred  writings  frequently  and  vividly 
to  our  recollection.  And  yet,  my  brethren,  I  am  not  sure  that 
we  are  disposed  to  view  this  subject  in  so  practical  a  light  as 
it  manifestly  deserves.  We  naturally  consider  an  apostle,  in 
many  respects,  as  a  peculiar  man,  and  the  circumstances  in 
which  this  apostle  was  placed  as  peculiar  circumstances ;  arid 
thus  we  see  in  the  whole  case  so  much  of  peculiarity  that  each 
one  escapes  from  that  practical  application  of  the  history, 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  intended  to  carry  home  to  the  bosom  of 
every  disciple  who  reads  it.  » 

I  freely  grant  that  there  is  much  of  this  sad  story  that  may 
be  considered  peculiar.  You  are  not  the  apostle  Peter.  This 
city  is  not  Jerusalem.  Your  place  of  daily  occupation  is  not 
the  hall  of  a  Roman  magistrate.  You  are  never  in  the  per- 
sonal presence  of  Jesus  Christ.  Here,  however,  if  I  mistake 
not,  the  peculiarity  of  the  case  ends.  Though  not  an  apostle, 
you  are,  it  may  be,  by  public  profession,  a  disciple  of  Jesus 


THE    TALL,    OF    PETER.  203 

Christ.  Though  you  are  not  Peter,  yet  your  heart  is  proba- 
bly as  deceitful  as  his.  Though  this  city  be  not  Jerusalem,  it 
is  a  province  of  that  world  which  lieth  in  wickedness.  Your 
college  chambers  are  not  the  hall  of  Pilate ;  yet  they  may 
surround  you  with  as  insidious  temptations  as  those  which 
there  encircled  the  apostle  Peter.  It  is,  perhaps,  on  this 
account  that  the  Holy  Spirit  has  marked  the  various  circum- 
stances attending  this  event  with  a  particularity  which  allows 
us  to  apply  every  part  of  it  to  our  own  instruction.  If,  there- 
fore, we  look  upon  this  history  in  its  true  light,  I  think  we 
shall  discover  that,  far  from  presenting  us  with  an  isolated  and 
solitary  case,  which  might  possibly  be  of  use  to  us  only  on  rare 
and  uncommon  occasions,  it  presents  us  with  precisely  the 
reverse.  It  teaches  many  a  lesson  which  we  must  practise 
every  day ;  it  utters  notes  of  warning  to  which  it  becomes  us 
continually  to  give  heed,  if  we  would  escape  the  sorrows  which 
fell  upon  the  head  of  this  falling  and  penitent  apostle. 

My  object  hi  the  present  discourse  will  be  to  place  before 
you  some  of  the  lessons  which  may  be  derived  from  a  con- 
templation of  this  portion  of  scriptural  history.  May  the 
Holy  Spirit  carry  home  to  each  heart  the  instruction  which  it 
contains,  so  that  our  repentings  may  be  enkindled  within  us, 
and  that,  looking  backward  over  our  past  wanderings,  we  also 
may  think  thereon  and  weep. 

With  all  the  facts  connected  with  the  fall  of  Peter  I  suppose 
you  to  be  already  familiar.  I  need  not,  therefore,  consume 
your  time  by  recapitulating  them,  but  may,  at  once,  proceed 
to  consider  them  in  their  order. 

Commencing,  then,  with  the  narrative  in  the  Gospels,  I 
remark,  in  the  first  place,  — 

Peter  was  forewarned  of  his  danger.  He  thought  the 
warning  needless,  and  slighted  it.  "  All  of  you,"  said  the 
Savior,  "  shall  be  offended  because  of  me  this  night."  Peter 
answered,  "  Though  all  men  should  be  offended  because  of 
thee,  yet  will  I  never  be  offended."  Jesus  said  unto  him, 
"  This  night,  before  the  cock  shall  crow  twice,  thou  shalt  deny 


204  THE    FALL    OF    PETER. 

me  thrice."  "  But  he  spake  the  more  vehemently,  If  I  should 
die  with  thee,  I  will  not  deny  thee  in  any  wise." 

We,  like  Peter,  are  commonly  forewarned  of  the  approach 
of  moral  danger.  Conscience,  especially  when  enlightened 
by  the  teachings  of  the  Spirit  of  truth,  admonishes  us  of  the 
peril  before  it  becomes  imminent.  It  puts  to  us  the  solemn 
questions,  Can  this  be  right  ?  Will  this  be  well  pleasing  to  God  ? 
Can  I  expose  myself  to  this  temptation  unnecessarily  and  be 
innocent  ?  If  I  am  called  by  my  convictions  of  duty  to  walk 
amidst  temptation,  have  I  armed  myself  by  humility,  faith,  and 
prayer  ?  Happy  is  the  man  whose  conscience,  habitually  void 
of  offence,  is  many  times  a  day  whispering  in  his  ear  such 
questions  as  these.  But  happier  far  is  that  man  to  whom  they 
are  never  addressed  in  vain,  who,  without  demur  and  without 
parley,  instinctively,  and  with  his  whole  soul,  flees  from  the 
very  appearance  of  evil. 

Peter  was  self-confident,  and  deemed  the  warning  needless. 
But,  blind  to  futurity,  who,  under  the  same  circumstances, 
would  not  have  been  self-confident?  As  the  immediate 
family  of  Jesus,  they  had  just  partaken  of  the  sacramental 
supper.  They  had  just  listened  to  the  parting  words  of  the 
Savior.  They  had  been  melted  into  tears  at  the  announce- 
ment of  his  approaching  and  mysterious  departure.  At  no 
moment  of  their  discipleship  had  he  seemed  so  peculiarly 
dear  to  them.  If  the  question  had  then  been  directly  put  to 
Peter,  whether  he  would  deny  Christ  or  die,  I  believe  that  he 
would  instantly  have  chosen  death.  After  rising  from  supper, 
they  walked  together  to  the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  that  they 
might  spend  the  remainder  of  the  night  in  prayer.  Jerusalem 
was  wrapped  in  slumber.  It  was  impossible  to  discern  the 
remotest  indication  of  danger.  Only  a  day  or  two  had  elapsed 
since  their  Master  had  entered  Jerusalem  amidst  the  shouts  of 
grateful  and  exulting  multitudes.  The  moral  danger  of  hypo- 
critically professing  attachment  to  Christ  seemed  far  greater 
than  that  of  denying  him. 

As  they  threaded  their  way  through  those  quiet  streets,  and 


THE    FALL    OF    PETER.  205 

clustered  together  to  hear  every  syllable  that  fell  from  the  lips 
of  their  Master,  and  marked  the  fixed  melancholy,  the  exceed- 
ing sorrowfulness,  even  unto  death,  which,  without  any  visible 
cause,  settled  upon  his  countenance,  how  strangely  must  have 
come  over  their  souls  the  recollection  of  his  recent  warning, 
"  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  all  of  you  shall  be  offended  be- 
cause of  me  this  night "  !  To  which  of  us,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, would  not  such  an  event  have  seemed  incredible  ? 
Who  could  have  foreseen  the  trials  that  were  already  impend- 
ing ?  Who  could  have  believed  that  the  warm  affection  which 
now  glowed  in  his  bosom,  could,  by  any  possibility,  be  so  sud- 
denly chilled  ?  Surrounded  as  they  were  by  acquaintances, 
who  of  them  could  seem  capable  of  such  hardihood  as  to  deny 
that  he  was  a  disciple  of  Christ  ? 

Peter,  as  well  as  the  rest  of  the  apostles,  could  foresee  no 
danger,  and  therefore  felt  himself  in  no  special  need  of  pro- 
tection. He  went  forth  that  night  in  his  own  strength,  ani  the 
result  was  such  as  might  have  been  expected. 

The  enemy  of  souls  did  not,  however,  directly  assail  the 
virtue  of  Peter.  He  first  stimulated  his  self-confidence  until  it 
exploded  in  folly,  and  exposed  him  to  public  disgrace.  The 
moral  power  that  is  built  upon  natural  self-reliance,  crumbles 
into  dust  when  self-reliance  is  smitten  with  confusion.  It  was 
on  this  principle  that  Peter  was  assaulted  with  the  first  tempta- 
tion. It  resulted  in  his  second  error. 

The  sad  company,  listening  to  the  solemn  instructions  of  our 
Lord,  pursued  their  way  to  the  garden  of  Gethsemane  — a  place 
to  which  they,  together  with  their  Master,  often  resorted  for 
the  purpose  of  quiet  and  secluded  devotion.  As  soon  as  they 
had  arrived  there,  Jesus  desired  them  to  sit  down  and  pray,  lest 
they  should  enter  into  temptation,  while  he  went  somewhat 
beyond  them,  and  prayed  also.  Taking  with  him  Peter,  and 
James,  and  John,  he  retired  into  a  more  unfrequented  part  of 
the  garden.  Here  he  began  to  be  sorrowful  and  very  heavy, 
and  said  to  these,  his  confidential  friends,  "  Tarry  ye  here 
and  watch  with  me  while  I  go  and  pray  yonder."  All  that  he 
18 


206  THE    TALL    OF    PETER. 

asked  of  them  was,  that  they  would  protect  him  from  interrup- 
tion while  he  was  preparing  himself  by  prayer  for  the  awful 
events  that  were  approaching. 

Soon  the  Lord  was  overwhelmed  with  his  sore  agony.  Fall- 
ing to  the  ground,  his  body  bathed  in  blood,  he  cries,  "  Father, 
if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me  ;  nevertheless, 
not  as  I  will, 'but  as  thou  wilt."  He  rises  and  approaches  these 
selected  disciples,  and  they  are  already  asleep.  He  arouses 
them,  exhorts  them  to  pray,  and  again  retires  to  agonize  in 
prayer.  This  was  done  thrice  before  the  arrival  of  Judas. 
How  sad  a  change  has,  within  a  few  minutes,  been  wrought  in 
this  apostle  !  But  just  now,  and  he  seemed  to  love  Christ  better 
than  life.  Already  has  the  tide  of  affection  ebbed  so  low  that 
he  cannot  keep  watch  for  the  Savior  even  for  one  hour.  Thus 
sadly  does  mere  emotion  wither  away  when  exposed  to  the  test 
of  self-denying  reality.  Almost  the  last  occasion  in  which  it 
was  possible  for  him  to  testify  love  to  his  Master,  has  passed 
away  unimproved.  The  Savior,  in  this  hour  of  his  dire  neces- 
sity, might  as  well  have  relied  upon  strangers,  as  upon  his 
chosen  disciples. 

But  the  time  for  prayer  and  watching  had  now  passed  by. 
The  time  for  action  had  arrived.  The  soldiery,  with  lanterns 
and  torches,  broke  in  upon  the  stillness  of  the  scene.  Jesus 
arouses  the  sleepers,  and  informs  them  of  the  approach  of  the 
betrayer.  Starting  suddenly  from  his  guilty  and  unfeeling 
slumber,  Peter  desired  to  recover  himself  at  once  from  his  false 
position.  Finding  himself  surrounded  with  armed  men,  the 
recollection  of  his  Master's  warning  flashed  upon  his  mind. 
He  supposed  that  this  was  the  trial  to  which  Jesus  had  alluded, 
and  that  this  was  the  occasion  on  which  it  had  been  predicted 
that  he  should  deny  his  Lord.  Strong  in  his  own  strength,  he 
resolved  boldly  to  meet  the  danger.  He  would  show  to  Christ, 
and  to  his  brethren,  that  he  feared  neither  soldiers  nor  swords, 
neither  wounds  nor  death.  Anxious  to  give  immediate  proof 
of  his  courage,  and  to  demonstrate  that,  though  just  now  asleep, 
he  was  already  quite  prepared  for  any  emergency,  he  draws 


THE    FALL    OF    PETER.  207 

his  sword,  smites  a  servant  of  the  high  priest,  and  cuts  off  his 
ear.  In  how  few  moments  may  an  act  be  conceived,  resolved 
upon,  and  committed,  of  which  the  consequences  may  affect  our 
destiny  forever !  Before  he  had  become  aware  of  his  danger, 
pride,  vain-glory,  nay,  perhaps  anger  and  revenge,  had  swept 
with  unresisted  force  over  his  soul.  This  was  his  second 
error. 

Observe,  my  brethren,  the  connection  of  these  events.  The 
self-confidence  of  Peter  led  him  to  spend  this  hour  in  sleep, 
which  he  should  have  spent  in  guarding  his  Mastr~  from  inter- 
ruption, and  in  earnest  prayer  for  divine  assistance  during  the 
unknown  trial  that  was  approaching.  Had  he  been  awake  and 
in  prayer,  he  would  not  have  been  so  abruptly  surprised  by  the 
appearance  of  Judas  with  the  soldiery.  Had  he  been  at  this 
moment  humble,  watchful,  and  devout,  his  ardent  temper, 
calmed  by  solemn  reflection,  would  not  have  precipitated  him 
into  an  act  which  had  so  important  a  bearing  upon  all  his  future 
conduct.  My  brethren,  we  are  never  in  greater  danger  than 
when  our  own  passions  become  mingled  with  religious  emotion. 
There  are  few  states  of  mind  on  which  God  looks  down  with 
sterner  displeasure. 

The  Savior  rebuked  the  rash  zeal  of  this  disciple,  healed  the 
wounded  man,  and  submitted  himself  to  arrest.  "  Put  up  thy 
sword  into  its  sheath,"  said  the  Lamb  of  God.  "  The  cup 
which  my  Father  hath  given  me,  shall  I  not  drink  it?  "  These 
words  were  sufficient  to  discover  to  Peter  his  error,  and  fill  him 
with  regret  and  shame.  He  had  displeased  his  Lord,  he  had 
prejudiced  his  cause,  he  had  incensed  the  soldiery.  He  had 
made  no  friends,  he  had  made  many  enemies,  and  his  con- 
science testified  to  him  that  he  had  done  wickedly.  He  had, 
by  his  sin,  rendered  the  subsequent  trial  through  which  he  must 
pass  severer ;  while  he  had,  at  the  same  time,  enfeebled  the 
moral  power  with  which  he  must  meet  it.  Nothing  awakens 
fear  like  the  consciousness  of  guilt.  His  self-confidence  fled, 
and  with  it  all  his  boasted  fortitude.  This  sudden  explosion  of 
impetuosity  was  instantly  succeeded  by  trembling  cowardice. 


208  THE    FALL    OF    PETER. 

Seeing  that  Jesus  offered  no  resistance,  but  suffered  himself  to 
be  bound  arid  led  away  like  any  other  prisoner,  he,  with  the 
rest,  forsook  him  and  fled.  This  man,  who,  but  an  hour  before, 
had  said,  "  I  am  ready  to  lay  down  my  life  for  thy  sake,"  and 
"  though  all  men  should  be  offended  because  of  thee,  yet 
will  I  never  be  offended,"  is  already  fleeing  from  the  sight  of 
the  guard,  and  skulking  in  darkness  amid  the  trees  of  the 
garden.  This  was  his  next  error.  Such,  my  brethren,  is 
always  the  end  of  pride.  A  haughty  spirit  goeth  before  a 
fall.  Such  is  the  result  of  confidence  in  ourselves.  Nothing 
will  prepare  us  for  the  hour  of  trial  like  heartfelt  humility. 
Nothing  will  sustain  us  amidst  appalling  dangers,  but  unshaken 
confidence  in  God. 

The  guards  soon  disappeared  with  their  prisoner.  The 
glare  of  lanterns  and  torches  faded  away  in  the  distance. 
Gethsemane  was  again  as  still  as  when  they  entered  it.  Peter 
groped  away  from  his  hiding-place.  He  had  escaped  the 
present  danger  and  eluded  the  grasp  of  the  soldiery.  His  alarm 
began  to  subside,  and  he  reflected  upon  his  condition.  His 
affection  partially  revived.  His  Master  was  on  his  way  to  the 
hall  of  the  high  priest.  Not  a  single  disciple  was  in  his  company. 
Was  it  right  that  the  compassionate  Jesus  should  thus  be  left  in 
the  midst  of  his  enemies  ?  Should  no  friend  be  near  him  to 
utter  a  word  in  his  defence  ?  Should  no  disciple  stand  forth  to 
testify  to  his  holy  life,  and  bear  witness  to  his  deeds  of  mercy  ? 
The  heart  of  Peter  relented,  for,  though  a  rash  and  impetuous, 
he  was  also  a  kind  and  humane,  man.  Again  he  felt  the  throb 
of  gratitude.  He  remembered  his  Master's  love,  his  Master's 
warning,  and  his  late  and  bitter  agony.  He  cannot  forsake  his 
Savior  altogether.  He  sees  the  glimmer  of  the  torches  on  the 
road  to  Jerusalem.  He  turns  his  steps  in  that  direction,  and 
slowly  follows  the  crowd  that  was  bearing  his  Lord  to  the 
judgment  seat.  But  what  can  he  now  do  ?  Shall  he  go  at 
once  among  the  soldiers,  and  avow  his  inviolable  attachment  to 
Christ  ?  This  will  expose  him  to  more  imminent  danger  than 
that  which  he  has  just  escaped.  The  effects  of  his  recent 


THE    FALL    OF    PETER. 

rashness  spread  themselves  out  before  him  in  all  their  appalling 
reality.  Yet  he  could  not  persuade  himself  wholly  to  abandon 
his  Master.  Distracted  to  the  uttermost  by  contending  emo- 
tions, he  resolved  to  do  as  probably  many  of  us,  in  the  like  cir- 
cumstances, would  have  done.  He  pursued  a  neutral  course  — 
a  course  which  would  enable  him  to  act  according  to  circum- 
stances. He  followed  Christ  afar  off.  This  was  another  and  a 
fatal  error.  He  had  already  begun  to  repent ;  but  his  repentance 
was  baflling,  undecided,  and  half-hearted.  Had  he  even  now 
resolved  to  surrender  all  for  Christ,  could  he  have  brought 
himself  manfully  and  publicly  to  confess  his  error,  had  he 
dared  to  take  only  one  decided  step,  even  now  the  ground 
which  he  had  lost  might  have  been  retrieved.  But  he  hesitated, 
he  doubted,  he  trembled,  until  the  time  for  action  was  past. 
He  did  not  take  that  step,  and  the  result  proved  that,  in  cases 
of  moral  trial,  no  man  can  come  to  a  more  fatal  decision  than 
that  which  fixes  him  upon  neutral  ground,  and  allows  him  to 
act  for  the  future  according  to  circumstances. 

Whenever  we  hesitate  about  performing  a  clearly  appre- 
hended duty,  trials  multiply  around  us.  Thus  was  it  with  Peter. 
Since  the  last  setting  sun,  with  a  heart  melted  in  'ove  and 
gratitude,  he  had  sat,  with  his  brethren,  around  the  sacramental 
supper,  listening  to  the  farewell  address  of  our  Lord.  Within 
two  or  three  hours,  he  had  declared  that  he  would  die  rather 
than  deny  him.  How  changed  from  all  this  is  his  present  con- 
dition !  He  had  disregarded  the  warning  of  his  Master.  He 
had  been  publicly  reproved  for  his  rash  impetuosity.  He  had 
basely  deserted  the  Savior  at  the  first  approach  of  danger.  He 
was  now,  under  cover  of  the  darknes' ,  following  the  Lord  afar 
off,  not  daring  to  avow  his  discipleship,  and  prepared  only  to 
change  his  position  when  circumstances  favored  ;  that  is,  when 
nothing  was  to  be  risked  by  his  fidelity.  And  in  this  hapless 
condition,  with  every  moral  principle  quivering,  and  bowing 
before  the  whirlwind  of  contending  emotions,  he  was  approach- 
ing a  trial  under  which  the  stoutest  resolution  might  well  nigh 
have  quailed. 

18* 


210  THE    FALL    OF    PETER. 

In  this  state  of  fearful  indecision,  lie  approaches  the  palace 
of  the  high  priest.  Well  would  it  have  been  for  him  if  he 
had  never  entered  it.  The  apostle  John,  however,  offered  t6 
gain  him  admittance  ;  and  he,  like  any  other  man  in  this  condi- 
tion, obedient  to  any  impulse  from  without,  accepts  the  invita- 
tion, and  immediately  finds  himself  in  the  common  hall  sur- 
rounded by  servants  and  soldiers.  He  takes  his  seat  among 
them  like  any  unconcerned  spectator,  and,  warming  himself  by 
the  fire,  waits  at  his  leisure  to  see  the  end. 

The  trial  of  the  Son  of  God  had  already  commenced.  The 
Holy  One  was  accused  of  blasphemy,  and  appealed  to  those 
who  had  heard  him  in  proof  of  his  innocence.  Peter  said  not 
a  word.  He  was  accused  of  threatening  to  destroy  the  tem- 
ple. Peter  well  knew  all  the  circumstances  to  which  this 
accusation  alluded,  yet  he  offered  no  explanation.  There  was 
not  a  being  present  who  was  so  minutely  acquainted  as  Peter 
with  the  whole  history  of  the  Savior's  life,  and  whose  evidence 
could  so  fully  have  disproved  every  charge  alleged  against 
him  ;  but  yet  he  uttered  not  a  word.  His  testimony,  offered  in 
boldness  and  sincerity,  might  have  baffled  the  malice  of  the 
Savior's  accusers,  and  would  at  least  have  shown  that  those 
who  knew  him  best  believed  him  wholly  harmless,  undefiled, 
and  separate  from  sinners.  All  this  Peter  knew.  But  his  lips 
were  strangely  sealed  in  silence.  Terrified,  doubting,  and 
guilty,  he  suffered  the  opportunity  for  doing  his  duty  to  pass 
by  forever. 

The  Savior  was  condemned,  not  for  the  doing  of  evil,  but 
for  revealing  himself  in  his  true  character  as  the  Son  of  God, 
the  Savior  of  the  world.  He  was  mocked  at  and  spit  upon. 
He  was  surrendered  up  to  the  brutality  of  heathen  soldiers. 
They  blindfolded  him,  and,  in  ridicule  of  his  claims  to  super- 
natural knowledge,  cried  out,  "  Prophesy  unto  us,  thou  Christ, 
who  is  he  that  smote  thee  ?  "  Was  there  no  one  present  who 
would  offer  his  own  body  to  shield  the  Lamb  of  God  from 
insult,  pain,  and  indignity  ?  Yes ;  there  sat  one  of  his  chosen 
apostles,  who  was  tamely  beholding  the  whole  of  this  atroc.ous 


THE    FALL    OF    PETER.  211 

outrage.  It  was  he  who,  a  few  hours  before,  had  said,  "  I  am 
ready  to  lay  down  my  life  for  thy  sake,"  but  who  now  had 
resolved  to  act  according  to  circumstances.  The  circum- 
stances surely  called  loudly  enough  for  the  expression  of  his 
affection.  But  this  resolution  had  been  fatal.  Every  moral 
energy  within  him  had  vanished.  He  was  trembling  in  every 
nerve,  in  a  paroxysm  of  cowardice  and  guilt,  incapable  of 
making  successful  resistance  to  the  slightest  temptation. 

While  in  this  condition,  a  more  decisive  trial  awaited  him. 
As  the  light  of  the  fire  shone  upon  his  pale  and  ghastly  coun- 
tenance^ little  maid,  coming  up,  said,  without  apparently  much 
intention,  "  Thou  also  wast  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth."  He  felt 
at  once  the  inconsistency  and  sin  of  his  situation.  Here  he 
was,  associated  with  the  servants  and  soldiers,  looking  like  an 
unconcerned  spectator  upon  the  injuries  heaped  upon  his  Lord. 
To  confess  himself  a  disciple  of  Christ  under  such  circum- 
stances would  have  been  to  plead  guilty  to  inexcusable  ingrati- 
tude, and  would,  moreover,  have  exposed  him  to  personal 
danger.  And  yet  he  was  not  quite  prepared  to  deny  his  Master 
in  full.  He  adopted  the  usual  expedient  of  a  weak,  irresolute, 
and  double-minded  man.  He  sought  to  escape  detection  by 
equivocation.  "  I  know  not,"  said  he,  "  what  thou  sayest ;  " 
and  immediately  the  cock  crew.  Equivocation  is  at  best  a 
poor  refuge  for  guilt.  Least  of  all  will  it  avail  in  a  disciple 
of  Christ.  He  who  resorts  to  it  will  speedily  be  put  to  shame. 
It  would  have  been  far  better,  even  now,  for  Peter,  had  he  at 
all  hazards  humbly  confessed  his  sin,  and  boldly  acknowledged 
the  truth. 

Fearing  lest  the  same  accusation  should  be  pressed  upon 
him  again,  he  escapes  from  the  hall,  and  retires  to  the  porch. 
Here  he  hoped  at  least  to  elude  detection.  But  where  can  a 
guilty  conscience  hide  ?  Where  shall  a  soul  find  rest  that  has 
been  false  to  the  Savior  ?  His  very  change  of  place  only 
gives  rise  to  further  inquiry.  Another  servant  met  him  with 
the  same  tormenting  message,  "  This  fellow  also  was  with 
Jesus  of  Nazareth."  He  was  advanced  too  far  for  retreat. 


212  THE    FALL    OF    PETEK. 

To  confess  the  truth  would  now  convict  him  both  of  ingrati 
tude  and  falsehood,  for  eveiy  one  understood  his  former  answer 
as  a  denial  of  Christ,  and  he  well  knew  that  he  meant  it  to  be 
so  understood.  He  was  now  prepared  to  go  still  farther.  A 
simple  denial  would  now  hardly  suffice.  He  declares  with  an 
oath,  "  I  know  not  the  man."  He  escapes  in  haste  from  the 
porch,  and,  harrowed  by  an  accusing  conscience,  he  again 
enters  the  hall,  and  finds  himself  in  the  immediate  presence 
of  Christ.  But  even  here  -his  sin  finds  him  out.  Again  the 
tormenting  accusation  is  brought  against  him,  not  by  a  little 
maid,  but  by  the  whole  company  of  the  soldiers.  One  cries 
out,  "  Surely  thou  art  a  Galilean,  for  thy  speech  betrayeth 
thee."  Another,  steadfastly  beholding  him,  asks,  in  the  hear- 
ing of  them  all,  "-Did  not  I  see  thee  in  the  garden  with  him  ?  " 
Surrounded  on  all  sides  by  the  evidences  of  his  guilt,  agitated 
with  shame  and  remorse,  every  unholy  passion  within  him 
burst  forth  into  ungovernable  rage.  "  He  began  to  curse  and 
to  swear,  saying,  I  know  not  the  man."  This  was  the  con- 
summation of  his  crime.  Immediately  the  cock  crew. 

The  deed  was  done.  But,  as  the  storm  of  passion  subsided, 
who  can  conceive  of  the  agony  that  rent  the  bosom  of  that 
miserable,  fallen,  old  man  ?  He  had  heard  his  master  falsely 
accused,  and  had  not  uttered  a  word  in  his  defence.  He  had 
tamely  looked  on,  while  Jesus  was  smitten  and  spit  upon,  and 
neither  came  near  to  succor  nor  console  him.  Once,  twice, 
thrice,  he  had  denied  him  in  the  presence  of  a  multitude  who 
knew  that  he  spoke  falsely.  He  had  dishonored  his  gray  hairs 
by  indecent  passion  and  shameful  profanity.  In  spite  of  his 
denials,  he  was  well  known  to  be  a  disciple  of  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth. Who  would  not  condemn  the  teacher,  if  such  were  the 
effects  of  his  doctrines  ?  This  chosen  disciple,  this  intimate 
friend  of  the  Savior,  has  inflicted  an  infinitely  greater  injury 
on  the  Lamb  of  God  than  the  soldiers  who  bound  him,  the 
mob  who  reviled  him,  or  even  the  High  Priest  who  condemned 
him.  Brethren,  it  is  an  evil  and  a  bitter  thing  to  sin  against 
God.  I  suppose  that,  amid  all  the  varieties  of  wretchedness 


THE    FALL    OF    PETER.  21b 

which  this  world  then  witnessed,  there  was  not  a  man  under 
the  face  of  the  whole  heaven  whose  agony  would  not  have 
been  light  in  comparison  with  that  which  pressed  upon  the 
soul  of  this  much-loved  and  highlyrfavored  apostle. 

Where  should  he  look  for  consolation  ?  His  denial  had 
stupefied  his  brethren.  His  profanity  had  astonished  the 
soldiery.  Gazing  around  in  horror,  he  turns  towards  the 
judgment  seat,  and  his  eye  meets  the  eye  of  his  Savior.  The 
self-condemned  disciple,  with  the  oath  yet  quivering  on  his 
lips,  bending  under  the  weight  of  remorse,  overwhelmed  with 
astonishment  at  his  own  atrocity,  looks  upon  the  face  of  the 
immaculate  Jesus.  That  face  revealed  even  now  nothing  but 
unchanged  benevolence.  Those  features  were  not  darkened 
by  a  single  cloud  of  reproach.  They  were  as  placid  as  when 
he  stood  in  glory  on  the  holy  mount.  There  beamed  forth 
from  that  countenance  nothing  but  love ;  yet  it  was  love 
saddened  unto  death,  not  by  the  buffeting,  the  shame,  and  the 
spitting,  but  by  the  ingratitude  of  his  chosen  disciple.  That 
look  of  love  subdued  him.  It  recalled  the  whole  history  of 
the  Savior's  life.  The  solemn  warning,  the  last  supper,  the 
farewell  address,  the  intercessory  prayer,  the  garden  of  Geth- 
semane,  the  bloody  agony,  —  all  came  with  one  overwhelming 
gush  to  his  recollection.  That  knitted  brow  is  smoothed.  That 
wrathful  eye  is  quelled.  That  angry  flush  is  followed  by  a 
deadly  paleness.  His  knees  smite  one  against  another.  The 
fountains  of  his  grief  are  opened.  He  could  not  look  again. 
He  went  out  and  wept  bitterly. 

Thus  ends  this  sad  narrative.  Every  portion  of  it  is  filled 
with  practical  instruction.  To  some  of  its  lessons  I  have  alluded 
in  the  progress  of  the  discourse.  Let  us  endeavor,  before  we 
close,  to  impress  them  yet  more  deeply  upon  our  recollection. 

1.  The  first  error  of  the  apostle  was  confidence  in  the 
strength  of  his  own  virtue,  followed  by  its  natural  result,  —  the 
want  of  watchfulness.  This  was  the  commencement  of  his 
aberration,  and  the  origin  of  all  his  subsequent  sorrow.  We 
have  within  ourselves  no  power  to  resist  the  assaults  of  tempta- 


214  THE    FALL    OF    PETER. 

tion.  Our  only  strength  is  in  humble  and  earnest  reliance 
upon  the  grace  of  Christ.  St.  Paul  understood  this  when  he 
said,  "  I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ,  which  strengtheneth 
me,"  "  for  when  I  am  weak,  then  am  I  strong."  It  is  rare,  my 
brethren,  that  an  humble  and  watchful  soul  is  overcome  by 
temptation.  Never  did  a  careless  and  proud  man  overcome  it. 
And  it  would  be  well  for  us  to  remember  that  we  are  fre- 
quently in  the  greatest  danger  when  we  think  ourselves  most 
secure.  Temptations  are  seldom  nearer  than  when  we  suppose 
them  most  distant.  On  the  evening  of  this  sad  night,  Peter 
was  sitting  at  the  sacramental  table,  filled  with  devout  and 
tender  affection  to  Christ.  Who  could  have  foretold  that  such 
moral  perils  were  closing  around  him,  or  that,  by  a  series  of 
indirect  temptations,  he  could,  before  the  morning  light,  be  led 
into  sins  which  then  seemed  to  him  far  more  terrible  than 
death.  Let  this  teach  us  the  importance  of  constant  watchful- 
ness unto  prayer.  Let  us  enter  upon  no  day  without  com- 
mending its  duties,  its  trials,  its  cares,  its  conversations,  to  the 
all-seeing  and  all-sustaining  grace  of  the  Savior.  If  we  com- 
mit our  way  unto  the  Lord,  he  will  direct  our  steps.  If, 
conscious  of  our  own  weakness,  and  earnestly  desirous  to  be 
delivered  from  all  sin,  we  look  to  the  hills  from  which  cometh 
our  help,  the  God  in  whom  we  trust  will  never  deliver  us  up  to 
the  will  of  our  enemies.  What  misery  would  Peter  have 
escaped  had  he  thus  acted !  What  miseries  should  we  have 
escaped  had  this  been  the  habit  of  our  lives. 

2.  The  first  sinful  act  of  Peter  arose  from  vain-glory.  He 
wished  to  make  a  display  of  his  courage.  The  occasion 
which  gave  power  to  this  temptation  was,  his  inexcusable 
slumber  at  the  solemn  hour  of  the  Savior's  agony.  Desirous 
in  any  manner  whatever  to  escape  the  imputation  of  want  of 
affection,  the  emotion  of  love  to  his  Master  was  intimately 
commingled  with  the  fiery  impetuosity  of  his  natural  temper. 
Such  is  the  natural  action  of  an  ill-disciplined  heart.  Let  this 
teach  us  the  necessity  of  frequently  and  prayerfully  scrutinizing 
our  motives.  How  much  of  our  religious  zeal,  when  weighed 


THE    FALL    OF    PETER.  215 

in  the  balances  of  the  sanctuary,  would  be  found  alloyed  with 
pride,  sectarianism,  vanity,  and  evil  temper !  Thus  are  we, 
like  Peter,  constantly  liable  to  injure  the  cause  of  our  Master, 
at  one  time  by  sloth  and  indifference,  and  at  another  by  rash 
impetuosity.  Peter  was  really  doing  no  more  for  Christ,  when, 
in  his  anger,  he  smote  off  the  servant's  ear,  than  when, 
stretched  at  length  in  the  garden,  he  slumbered  while  Jesus 
was  at  prayer. 

One  extreme  is  always  liable  to  be  succeeded  by  its  oppo- 
site. Rashness  is  naturally  followed  by  cowardice.  He  who 
smote  off  the  servant's  ear  was  seen,  in  a  few  minutes,  hiding 
himself  in  the  darkness  among  the  trees  of  the  garden.  But 
two  extremes  of  wrong,  though  ever  so  closely  united,  never 
lead  to  rectitude.  If  we  have  sinned  against  Christ  in  one 
way,  this  can  form  no  excuse  for  sinning  against  him  in 
precisely  the  opposite  way.  If  we  find  that  our  efforts  in  the 
cause  of  Christ  have  been  mingled  with  pride  and  vain-glory, 
does  this  make  it  right  for  us  to  fold  our  hands  in  indolence, 
and  resolve  that  we  will  do  nothing  ?  Much  less  does  it  justify 
us  in  forsaking  him  entirely,  and  being  found  associated  with 
his  avowed  enemies. 

3.  The  vacillation  of  Peter  produced  its  natural  result  — 
insufficient  and  undecided  repentance.  He  could'  not  forsake 
his  Master  entirely.  He  dared  not  openly  confess  his  fault, 
and  meet  the  consequences  of  doing  right.  He  followed  Christ 
afar  off.  Thus  difficult  is  it  to  do  right,  after  we  have  once 
commenced  the  doing  of  wrong.  Yet,  after  all,  the  bold, 
manly,  and  immediate  forsaking  of  sin  is  the  only  safe  course 
that  can  be  taken.  A  course  only  half  way  right,  is  as  peril- 
ous a  one  as  can  be  chosen.  Hence,  let  us  learn,  then,  never 
to  allow  sin  unrepented  of  to  remain  upon  the  conscience. 
At  the  last,  it  will  bite  like  a  serpent  and  sting  like  an  adder. 
It  will  wither  our  spiritual  strength,  and  inevitably  lead  us  to 
aggravated  transgression.  Nothing  could  have  restored  to 
Peter  the  moral  courage  of  innocence,  but  going  at  once  to 
Christ,  confessing  his  sin,  and  avowing  his  attachment,  no 


216  THE    FALL    OF    PETER. 

matter  what  the  avowal  might  have  cost  him.  The  rule  is  the 
same  for  every  one  of  us.  We  may  be  surprised  into  sin. 
Our  only  safety  consists  in  forsaking  it  immediately.  If  we 
hesitate,  our  conscience  will  become  defiled  and  our  resolution 
weakened.  It  is  also  of  the  utmost  importance  that  our 
reformation  be  bold,  manly,  and  universal.  A  mere  formal 
return  to  our  duty,  lip-service,  shame,  regret,  desire  to  repent, 
like  Peter's,  following  Christ  afar  off,  will  only  lead  us  into 
greater  moral  dangers. 

4.  Peter  heard  Jesus  falsely  accused,  and  he  uttered  not 
a  word  in  his  defence.  The  Son  of  man  was  buffeted  and 
spit  upon,  yet  Peter  never  rebuked  the  ruffians  who  were 
insulting  him.  This  was  a  grievous  and  inexcusable  sin. 
Yet,  observe,  it  was  not  his  doing,  but  his  not  doing,  that  was 
guilty.  He  was  the  friend  and  the  witness  of  Christ.  It  was 
his  duty  to  act,  and  to  act  promptly.  By  quietly  looking  on, 
when  he  ought  to  have  acted,  Peter  prepared  himself  for  all 
the  guilt  and  misery  that  ensued.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  this  friend  and  apostle  of  Christ,  by  standing  there  in 
silence,  was  doing  a  far  greater  wickedness  than  the  very 
soldiers  who  were  torturing  him  with  every  refinement  of 
barbarian  malignity. 

Hence  let  us  learn  the  danger  of  being  found  in  any  com- 
pany in  which  the  cause  of  Christ  is  liable  to  be  treated  with 
indignity.  If  we  enter  such  company  from  choice,  we  are 
accessory  to  the  breaking  of  Christ's  commandments.  If  our 
lawful  duties  call  us  into  society,  where  the  name  of  Christ 
is  not  revered,  we  can  never  remain  in  it  innocently,  for  a 
moment,  unless  we  promptly  act  as  disciples  of  Christ.  When- 
ever our  love  to  Jesus  demands  it,  we  must,  without  flinching 
or  shamefacedness,  boldly  defend  his  cause.  Whenever  his 
name  is  reviled,  we  must  meekly,  yet  boldly,  rebuke  the  trans- 
gressor. Every  where,  and  at  all  times,  we  are  required  to  be 
ready  to  offer  our  testimony  in  favor  of  that  Savior  by  whose 
blood  we  hope  to  be  redeemed.  To  fail  in  the  performance  of 
this  duty,  is  a  grievous  sin,  and  it  always  exposes  us,  in  the  end, 


THE    FALL    OF    PETER.  217 

to  inextricable  embarrassment  and  overwhelming  temptation. 
Thoughtless  and  irreligious  men  themselves  look  upon  such  a 
disciple  with  contempt.  They  quickly  apprehend  the  incon- 
sistency of  his  conduct,  and  not  unfrequently  put  to  him  the 
taunting  question,  "Did  I  not  see  thee  in  tlie  garden  with 
him  ?  " 

5.  Peter  attempted  to  escape  from  the  embarrassments  of 
his  situation  by  equivocation.     "  I  know  not,"  said  he,  "  nor 
understand  what  thou  sayest"     This  only  in  the  end  rendered 
his  embarrassment  the  more  inextricable.     It  soon  reduced  him 
to  a  situation  in  which  he  had  no  alternative  except  confession 
of  Christ,  under  still  more  disadvantageous  circumstances,  or 
the  open  and  violent  denial  of  him  altogether.     Let  this  part 
of  the  history  teach  us  the  importance  of  cultivating,  on  all 
occasions,  the  habit  of  bold  and  transparent  veracity.     Equivo- 
cation is  always  a  sort  of  moral  absurdity.     It  is  an  attempt  to 
make  a  lie  answer  the  purpose  of  the  truth.     He  who  does  this 
when  his  attachment  to  Christ  is  called  in  question,  has  already 
fallen.      He  denies  his   Lord   in  the  sight  of  his  all-seeing 
Judge,  though  his  cowardice  will   not  permit   him   to  do  it 
openly.      He   cannot,   however,   long  maintain  this  dubious 
position.     His  next  step  in  sin  will  be  open  and  avowed  apos- 
tasy.    The  Lord,  whom  we  serve,  is  a  jealous  God.     He  will 
not  long  suffer  us  to  wear  his  livery  when  we  are  in  heart 
united  to  his  enemies.     The  man  who  has  gone  thus  far  will 
soon  be  brought  into  circumstances  which  will  openly  reveal 
his  guilt. 

6.  Peter  was  rapidly  led  on  to  the  commission  of  crimes 
in  themselves  most  abhorrent  to  his  nature,  and  crimes  of 
which,  at  the  commencement  of  his  wrong-doing,  neither  he 
nor  any  one  else  would  have  believed   him  capable.     He 
began  by  nothing  more  guilty  than  self-confidence  and  the 
want  of  watchfulness.    He  ended  with  shameless  and  repeated 
lying  —  the  public  denial  of  his  Muster,  accompanied  by  the 
exhibition  of  frantic  rage,  and  the  uttering  of  oaths  and  blas- 
phemy in  the  hearing  of  all  Jerusalem.     And  how  is  this 

19 


218  THE    FALL    OF    PETER. 

sudden  and  awful  transformation  to  be  accounted  for  ?  My 
brethren,  it  may  all  be  explained  in  the  most  simple  manner 
possible.  The  first  step  in  sin  placed  him  in  a  position  in 
which  he  must  either  humble  himself  in  penitence,  or,  by  a 
second  step,  plunge  still  deeper  in  guilt.  He  did  not  repent, 
but  took  that  second  step.  Here,  again,  the  same  choice  was 
offered  to  him,  but  with  increased  difficulty  of  repentance, 
and  diminished  moral  power  of  resisting  temptation.  Thus, 
step  after  step,  he  plunged  headlong  into  more  and  more 
atrocious  guilt,  until,  without  the  power  of  resistance,  he  sur- 
rendered himself  up  to  do  the  whole  will  of  the  adversary 
of  souls. 

From  this,  let  us  learn  the  danger  of  little  sins,  and  espe- 
cially of  sinning  against  God  in  the  temper  of  our  hearts. 
If,  in  any  case,  we  find  ourselves  cherishing  wrong  disposi- 
tions, let  us  learn  immediately  to  repent  of  them.  Still  more 
imperative  is  this  necessity,  if  we  have  gone  so  far  astray  as 
to  sin  against  God  by  the  actual  commission  of  wrong.  In 
such  a  case,  we  are  always  in  imminent  peril.  Our  only  way 
of  escape  from  impending  moral  danger,  is  immediate  and 
sincere  repentance.  If  this  be  neglected  or  delayed,  we  may 
be  sure  that  more  formidable  temptation  will  soon  surprise  us, 
and  that,  while  sin  unrepented  of  palsies  our  conscience,  we 
shall  most  surely  be  overcome.  Nothing  but  penitence  will 
either  remove  us  beyond  the  reach  of  temptation,  or  with  the 
temptation  make  a  way  also  for  our  escape. 

In  closing  this  sermon,  what  need  have  we  of  application  ? 
If  you  have  not  already  brought  these  truths  home  to  your 
own  consciences,  all  that  I  can  say  will  be  unavailing.  Are 
there  not  some  of  us  here  present  who  are  under  those 
circumstances  which  the  history  of  Peter  illustrates  ?  Is 
there  no  one  here  slumbering  in  false  security,  and  saying  to 
himself,  "  Though  all  men  should  be  offended,  yet  will  I  never 
be  offended  "  ?  Is  there  no  one  here  who,  by  his  boisterous 
and  misplaced  zeal,  has  brought  dishonor  on  the  cause  of 
Christ  ?  Is  there  no  one  here  who,  for  some  time  past,  has 


THE    FALL    OF    PETER.  219 

been  following  Christ  afar  off,  in  darkness,  hardly  knowing 
whether  he  shall  number  himself  among  the  friends  or  the 
enemies  of  his  Redeemer  ?  Is  there  no  one  here  who, 
though  cherishing  a  hope  of  acceptance  with  Christ,  is  found 
habitually  in  company  with  those  who  reject  and  revile  him, 
and  who  yet  never  offers  a  word  in  favor  of  religion  ?  Is 
there  no  one  here  who  has,  by  word  and  action,  once,  twice, 
thrice,  brought  dishonor  on  the  profession  which  he  has  made, 
who  is  fast  sinking  under  the  power  of  temptation,  and  deny- 
ing the  Lord  that  bought  him  ?  Professor  of  religion,  thou 
art  the  man  to  whom  this  sermon  is  addressed. 


THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST. 


"  NEITHER  PRAY  I  TOR  THESE  ALONE,  BUT  FOR  THEM  ALSO  THAT  SHALL 

BELIEVE  OX  ME  THROUGH  THEIR  WORD  ;  THAT  THEY  ALL  MAY  BE  ONE, 

AS  THOU,  FATHER,  ART  IN  ME  AND  I  IN  THEE,  THAT  THEY  ALSO  MAY 

BE    ONE  IN   US,   THAT  THE    WORLD    MAY     BELIEYE    THAT    THOU    HA3T 
SENT   ME." 

John  xvii.  20,  21. 

THESE  words  form  a  portion  of  that  memorable  prayer 
offered  up  by  our  Lord  in  the  company  of  his  disciples,  on 
the  night  that  preceded  his  crucifixion.  They  were  uttered 
just  before  he  proceeded  to  the  garden  of  Gethsemane, 
whilst  his  mind  was  deeply  impressed  with  the  thought  that 
before  another  sun  should  set,  his  work  on  earth  would  be 
finished,  and  the  sacrifice  for  our  sins  offered  up.  The  senti- 
ments of  the  text,  then,  come  to  us  clothed  with  all  the  author- 
ity of  the  last  message  from  a  dying  Friend.  They  express 
to  us  the  last  wish  of  the  Redeemer,  and  teach  us  the  nature 
of  those  blessings  which,  at  that  solemn  hour,  he  most  earn- 
estly craved  in  behalf  of  those  for  whom  he  was  about  to  die. 
There  must  be  in  these  words,  then,  something  specially  wor- 
thy of  our  prayerful  attention.  Let  us  endeavor  to  ascertain 
their  meaning,  and  draw  from  it  such  lessons  of  instruction 
as  are  most  appropriate  to  our  present  condition. 

Let  us  inquire,  in  the  first  place,  For  whom  was  this  prayer 
offered  ? 

And  here,  at  the  commencement,  we  are  met  by  the  fact 
that  this  prayer  of  our  Lord  is  remarkable  for  one  striking 
peculiarity.  Its  object  is  definite  and  exclusive.  The  pro- 


THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  221 

pitiatory  work  of  Christ  was  wrought  for  the  whole  world,  for 
the  whole  race  of  Adam.  This  prayer,  on  the  contrary,  was 
offered  for  only  a  part  of  that  race.  He  himself  declares, 
"  I  pray  for  them ;  I  pray  not  for  the  world,  but  for  them  that 
thou  hast  given  me  out  of  the  world."  At  first,  the  Redeemer 
seems  to  have  prayed  for  the  apostles  who  immediately  sur- 
rounded him,  or,  at  most,  for  those  who  had,  up  to  that  time, 
become  his  disciples.  "  Those  whom  thou  hast  given  me  I 
have  kept,  and  none  of  them  is  lost  but  the  son  of  perdition." 
As,  however,  he  proceeds,  his  supplications  become  more 
general,  until  he  includes  within  the  scope  of  his  intercession, 
not  only  the  apostles,  but  all  those  who,  through  their  word, 
should  believe  on  him  in  all  coming  time. 

We  perceive,  then,  that  while  our  Lord  excludes  the  world 
from  any  interest  in  this  particular  prayer,  he  includes,  within 
the  number  of  those  for  whom  he  supplicates,  certain  persons 
taken  out  of  the  world.  These  two  classes  of  mankind  are 
placed  in  distinct  opposition  to  each  other.  Those  denomi- 
nated the  world,  are  not  those  for  whom  he  prays.  Those  for 
whom  he  prays  are  not  of  the  world.  The  peculiarity  of 
character  which  designates  this  latter  class  of  persons,  and 
which  distinguishes  them  from  the  world,  is  frequently  alluded 
to  in  this  last  discourse  of  our  Lord,  in  terms  that  cannot  be 
misunderstood.  They  are  those  for  whom  a  mansion  is  pre- 
pared in  heaven ;  with  whom  the  Comforter  shall  abide  for- 
ever ;  with  whom  the  peace  of  Christ  dwells  :  they  are  the 
branches  of  that  vine  of  which  Christ  is  the  stem  ;  who  keep 
his  commandments  and  abide  in  his  love  ;  who  are  chosen 
out  of  the  world,  therefore  the  world  hateth  them  ;  whom  the 
Father  loveth  because  they  love  Christ :  they  are  those  who 
have  believed  on  him ;  whom  the  Father  hath  given  him  out 
of  the  world  ;  they  have  kept  his  words,  they  are  not  of  the 
world,  even  as  Christ  is  not  of  the  world ;  the  glory  which 
the  Father  gives  to  Christ,  Christ  gives  to  them  ;  God  loves 
them  ;  the  love  wherewith  the  Father  loves  the  Son  is  in 
them  ;  Christ  is  in  them,  and  he  wills  that  they  may  be  with 
him  where  he  is,  that  they  may  behold  his  glory. 
19* 


222  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

Such  are  the  persons  for  whom  Christ  prays.  Such  are 
they  for  whom  he  supplicates  that  they  may  be  one.  Now,  it 
is  obvious  that  precisely  equivalent  terms  to  these  are  always 
used  in  the  Scriptures  with  reference  to  the  church  of  Christ. 
The  church  is  always  represented  to  be  a  portion  of  the  human 
race  possessing  the  very  moral  attributes  which  our  Savior,  in 
the  passages  which  I  have  quoted,  enumerates.  Thus  the 
apostle  Paul  addressed  his  various  epistles  either  to  the  churches, 
or  to  the  saints,  or  to  the  church  of  God ;  to  them  that  are 
sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus,  called  to  be  saints.  The  church  in 
any  place,  and  the  saints  in  that  place,  mean,  with  him,  pre- 
cisely the  same  persons. 

The  church  is  repeatedly  denominated  by  the  apostle  Paul 
the  body  of  Christ,  and  every  individual  believer  is  a  member 
of  the  body  of  which  Christ  is  the  head.  Thus  Eph.  1 :  22. 
"  He  hath  given  him  to  be  head  over  all  things  to  the  church, 
which  is  his  body."  Eph.  4  :  15.  "  That  ye  may  grow  up  into 
him  in  all  things  which  is  the  head,  even  Christ,  from  whom  the 
whole  body,  fitly  joined  together,  maketh  increase  of.  the  body." 
Col.  1 :  18.  "  And  he  is  the  head  of  the  body,  the  church." 
The  illustration  here  used  is  precisely  analogous  to  that 
derived  from  the  relation  of  the  vine  and  its  branches.  The 
idea  in  both  cases  is  the  same.  That  portion  of  matter  which 
obeys  my  will,  and  is  pervaded  by  my  spirit,  and  partakes  of 
my  animal  life,  is  a  part  of  my  body.  So  the  members  of  the 
body  of  Christ  are  those  who  obey  his  will,  are  influenced  by 
his  spirit,  and  partake  of  his  moral  life.  These,  taken  to- 
gether, form  the  church,  which  is  his  body.  All  the  rest  are 
of  the  world.  It  is  this  spirit  of  Christ  dwelling  in  them  that 
distinguishes  them  from  other  men.  "  In  Christ  Jesus,  neither 
circumcision  nor  uncircumcision  availeth  any  thing,  but  faith, 
that  worketh  by  love."  "  If  any  man  be  in  Christ  Jesus,  he 
is  a  new  creature."  "Christ  has  purchased  the  church  of 
God  with  his  own  blood."  "  He  loved  the  church,  and  gave 
himself  for  it,  that  he  might  sanctify  and  cleanse  it,  that  he 
might  present  it  unto  himself  a  glorious  church,  not  having 


THE    CHUKCH    OF    CHRIST.  223 

spot  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing,  but  that  it  should  be  holy 
and  without  blemish."  All  the  members  of  such  a  church, 
being  holy  persons,  must,  of  course,  be  happy  in  heaven. 
"  Ye  are  come  to  Mount  Zion,  and  unto  the  city  of  the  living 
God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  and  to  the  general  assembly  and 
church  of  the  first-born  which  arc  written  in  heaven,  and  to 
God  the  Judge  of  all,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made 
perfect."  From  these,  and  a  multitude  of  passages  such  as 
these,  it  is  evident  that  the  church  of  God  is  always  spoken  of 
in  the  New  Testament,  as  the  company  of  redeemed  souls 
pervaded  by  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  that  they  are  the  persons 
of  our  race  who  possess  exactly  the  same  moral  attributes  as 
those  for  whom  he  prays  that  they  may  be  one.  They  are 
the  whole  company  of  those  who  have  come  out  from  the 
world,  who  are  united  to  Christ  by  a  faith  which  worketh  by 
love,  who  obey  his  commandments,  and  are  laboring  to  be 
conformed  to  his  likeness,  that  they  may  enter  with  him  into 
his  glory.  Such  are  the  children  of  men  who  form  his  spirit- 
ual body,  and  for  whom  he  offered  up  his  intercessory  prayer. 
In  this  statement  we  express  no  other  truths  than  those 
which  are  fully  revealed  in  other  portions  of  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures. The  whole  doctrine  of  conversion  or  regeneration  is  in 
perfect  harmony  with  all  that  we  have  above  recited.  Thus 
we  are  taught  that  the  whole  race  of  man  has  apostatized  from 
God,  is  at  enmity  against  him  by  wicked  works,  and  is  under 
the  condemnation  of  his  righteous  law ;  "  for  all  have  sinned 
and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God."  Our  Father  in  heaven, 
moved  by  sovereign  and  abounding  grace,  has  provided  for  all 
men  a  way  of  pardon  and  reconciliation  through  the  merits, 
obedience,  and  intercession  of  his  well-beloved  Son.  "  God 
so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  on  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  ever- 
lasting life.  The  ofler  of  pardon  and  everlasting  life  is  freely 
made  to  every  individual  of  our  race,  on  the  condition  that  he 
truly  repent  of  his  sins,  receive  by  faith  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  maintain  a  life  of  holy  obedience.  The  commis- 


224  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

sion  which  he  gave  to  his  disciples,  when  he  ascended,  was  in 
these  impressive  words :  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature.  He  that  believeth,  and  is  baptized, 
shall  be  saved ;  but  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned." 
Whenever  an  individual  of  our  race  accepts  of  these  terms  of 
salvation,  and  by  faith  yields  up  his~  whole  nature  in  love  and 
obedience  to  Christ,  he  becomes  a  new  creature,  the  Holy  Spirit 
takes,  up  his  abode  in  the  renewed  soul,  working  in  it  that 
which  is  well  pleasing  to  God ;  God,  for  Christ's  sake,  pardons 
his  sins,  and  receives  the  returning  prodigal  as  a  well-beloved 
son.  The  man  becomes  an  heir  of  God  and  a  joint  heir  with 
Christ ;  he  is  delivered  from  the  slavery  of  sin,  and  "  has  his 
fruit  unto  holiness,  and  the  end  everlasting  life."  Henceforth, 
being  influenced  by  the  spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  no  more  of  the 
world,  as  Christ  is  not  of  the  world.  He  was  a  sinner ;  he  is 
now  a  saint.  He  was  an  enemy  of  God  ;  he  is  now  a  child  of 
God.  He  brought  forth  the  fruits  of  the  flesh ;  he  now  brings 
forth  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit.  He  was  under  condemnation ; 
now  "  there1  is  a  crown  of  righteousness  laid  up  for  him,  and 
for  all  who  love  the  appearing  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

Such,  then,  is  the  character  which  the  New  Testament 
ascribes  to  the  individual  disciples  of  Christ.  All,  then,  by 
partaking  of  his  spirit,  are  united  to  him,  and  form  a  part  of 
that  spiritual  body  which  is  his  church.  Every  one  who 
possesses  this  moral  character  is  a  member  of  this  body.  The 
rest  of  mankind,  by  what  name  soever  they  may  be  known 
among  men,  are  of  the  world,  and  are  not  of  the  church. 
The  term  church,  you  perceive,  properly  and  originally  desig- 
nates a  class  of  persons  possessing  a  particular  moral  charac- 
ter, precisely  as  the  term  world  designates  a  class,  possessing 
an  opposite  character ;  the  one  being  precisely  equivalent  to  the 
term  saints,  and  the  other  to  the  term  sinners.  Thus  all  those, 
in  the  times  of  the  apostles,  who,  in  the  sense  that  I  have 
described,  were  disciples  of  Christ,  were  spoken  of  as  members 
of  the  church.  "  Having  put  on  the  new  man,  which  is 
renewed  in  knowledge  after  the  image  of  him  that  created  him, 


THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  225 

there  was  no  more  either  Greek  or  Jew,  circumcision  or 
uncircumcision,  barbarian,  Scythian,  bond,  or  free,"  that  is,  all 
human  distinctions  were  abolished,  and  "  Christ  was  all  and  in 
all."  Thus,  in  the  same  manner,  in  every  other  age,  all  that 
portion  of  living  men  who  have  turned  from  sin  to  holiness,  and 
are  new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus,  are  the  church  of  God  in 
the  world,  at  that  particular  period.  Thus,  also,  in  a  smaller 
society  of  men,  in  a  nation,  or  city,  or  even  a  family,  those 
who  are  the  disciples  of  Christ  are  the  church  of  God  in  that 
society.  Thus  all,  in  all  ages,  who  have  ever  lived  upon  earth, 
and  been  received  into  glory,  together  with  those  who  now  by 
patient  continuance  in  well-doing,  are  making  their  calling  and 
election  sure,  the  church  militant  below,  with  the  church  tri- 
umphant above,  constitute  "  the  general  assembly  and  church 
of  the  first-born."  And,  when  the  mystery  of  redemption  shall 
have  been  finished,  and  Christ  shall  have  collected  home  all  his 
ransomed  ones  into  his  house  not  made  with  hands,  then  the  body 
of  Christ  shall  be  completed,  and  one  church  —  the  multitude 
which  no  man  can  number  —  shall  surround  the  throne  of  God, 
singing,  with  one  voice,  the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb, 
saying,  "  Thou  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy  blood,  and 
made  us  kings  and  priests  to  our  God  ; "  "  Salvation,  and  glory, 
and  honor,  and  power,  unto  Him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne, 
and  to  the  Lamb  forever  and  ever." 

Such,  then,  is  the  simple  notion  of  the  church  of  Christ,  as  it 
is  presented  to  us  in  the  New  Testament.  It  is  a  term  used  to 
designate  a  class  of  persons  possessing  a  peculiar  moral  char- 
acter, right  affections  towards  God  and  their  fellow-men. 
Whoever  possesses  these  moral  affections  belongs  to  this  class, 
or  is  a  member  of  this  church,  no  matter  by  what  other  pecu- 
liarities he  may  be  distinguished.  Whoever  is  destitute  of 
these  moral  attributes  is  not  a  member  of  this  church,  or  does 
not  belong  to  this  class,  no  matter  by  what  name  he  may  be 
called,  or  what  profession  soever  he  may  have  assumed 

But,  it  may  be  said,  this  truly  is  the  conception  of  the 
church,  as  it  exists  in  the  mind  of  Him  that  searcheth  the 


226  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

heart.  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  his.  But  there  is  riot 
hi  us  this  knowledge.  We  can  form  no  such  church.  What, 
then,  is  the  scriptural  idea  of  the  church  as  it  actually  exists 
here  upon  earth  ?  Let  us  proceed  to  answer  this  question. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  I  think  it  must  be  obvious  that  if  this 
be  the  pure  and  original  idea  of  a  church,  it  must  lie  at  the 
foundation  of  every  practical  and  visible  manifestation  of  it 
which  we  are  authorized  to  constitute  among  men.  We  are 
not  omniscient,  and  therefore  cannot  organize  a  church  which 
shall  inevitably  include  every  true  disciple,  and  exclude  every 
one  who  is  not  a  disciple.  We  are,  however,  bound  to  use,  for 
this  purpose,  all  the  means  of  discrimination  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  has  given  us,  honestly  endeavoring,  to  the  utmost  of  our 
power,  to  render  the  church  visible  coextensive  with  the 
church  invisible.  The  model  is  placed  before  us ;  and, 
though  we  are  unable  to  attain  to  perfect  conformity  with  it, 
we  should  labor  to  attain  to  as  perfect  a  conformity  as  our 
limited  knowledge  will  permit. 

I  remark,  secondly,  Christ  has  commanded  all  his  true 
disciples  to  come  out  from  the  world,  by  making  an  open  and 
avowed  profession  of  their  attachment  to  him.  He  has 
appointed  a  solemn  rite,  by  the  reception  of  which  this  pro- 
fession is  to  be  made.  But,  as  there  must  be  some  authority 
under  which  this  rite  is  administered,  so  that  no  other,  if 
possible,  than  true  disciples  may  be  admitted  to  it,  Christ  has 
committed  this  authority  to  those  who  are  already  disciples. 
By  these,  every  one  who  wishes  to  come  out  from  the  world, 
and  profess  his  faith  in  Christ,  is  to  be  received  into  the  num- 
ber of  visible  disciples. 

Again :  Christ  has  appointed  a  solemn  rite,  in  memory  of 
his  atoning  death,  which  his  disciples  are  commanded,  from 
time  to  time,  to  celebrate.  This  second  rite,  like  the  other,  is 
to  be  administered  to  those  who  are  members  of  his  body  and 
partakers  of  his  spirit.  The  meaning  of  it  is,  that  they,  in 
partaking  of  it,  profess  to  be  one  with  him,  and  one  with  each 
other.  As  none  have  a  right  to  partake  of  this  ordinance  but 


THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  227 

true  believers,  Christ  has  authorized  the  disciples  themselves 
to  admit  to  it  such  persons  as  give  evidence  of  faith  in  him, 
and  to  exclude  from  their  fellowship  all  those  in  whom  the 
evidences  of  piety  are  wanting. 

And,  besides  all  this,  religion  is  intimately  connected  with 
the  social  principles  of  our  nature.  In  our  warfare  against  sin, 
and  our  endeavors  after  holiness,  we  are  greatly  assisted  by 
the  sympathy  of  our  brethren.  It  is  natural  that  those  whose 
hopes  and  fears,  whose  joys  and  sorrows,  are  similar,  should 
associate  together,  that  they  may  strengthen  their  faith  by 
fraternal  communion  with  each  other. 

Again :  it  is  made  the  duty  of  every  disciple  of  Christ  to 
extend  the  spiritual  reign  of  his  Master.  He  must  hold  forth 
the  word  of  life,  bear  testimony  against  whatever  is  sinful,  and 
devote  himself  to  the  work  of  saving  men  from  the  destruction 
which  awaits  the  ungodly.  Christ  devoted  himself  to  the  labor 
of  unceasing  benevolence ;  and  we  are  disciples  of  Christ  in 
just  so  far  as  we  follow  his  example.  Much  of  this  labor  can 
be  carried  on  only  by  associated  effort.  Men  earnestly 
engaged  in  such  an  undertaking  will  naturally  unite  with  each 
other  for  the  purpose  of  more  successfully  accomplishing  the 
object  to  which  each  one  has  consecrated  himself. 

For  such  reasons  as  these,  our  Lord  has  taught  us  that  his 
disciples  in  any  place  should  form  themselves  into  fraternal 
societies.  The  object  of  such  societies  is  purely  spiritual.  He 
only  has  a  right  to  belong  to  them  who  is  a  member  of  the 
body  of  Christ ;  and  the  reason  for  which  he  unites  himself 
with  them  is,  that  he  may  do  the  will  of  Christ  more  perfectly. 
A  society  thus  formed  is  a  church.  It  has  nothing  to  do  with 
any  other  association,  nor  has  any  other  association  any  thing 
to  do  with  it.  Its  laws  and  its  authority  are  all  derived  from 
Christ,  who  is  its  head.  It  is  composed  of  those  who  are  "  a 
chosen  generation,  a  royal  priesthood,  a  holy  nation,  a  pecu- 
liar people  —  that  they  should  show  forth  the  praises  of  Him 
that  hath  called  them  out  of  darkness  into  his  marvellous 
light." 


228  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

From  what  we  have  said,  it  is  evident  that  such  a  society  as 
this  is  designed  for  action.  There  are  things  to  be  done  by 
the  members  as  a  community.  All  are  not,  however,  endowed 
with  powers  for  doing  the  same  things.  Each  one  must  labor 
according  to  his  several  ability.  Hence  the  necessity  for  some 
form  of  organization,  and  for  the  creation  of  such  a  system  of 
agencies  as  is  commonly  called  a  government,  and  for  such  laws 
as  shall  prescribe  the  duties,  privileges,  and  responsibilities  of 
each  member.  It,  however,  hardly  need  to  be  remarked  that 
the  organization  of  such  a  society  should  be  exceedingly  sim- 
ple. The  sole  object  of  the  association  is  to  aid  us  in  making 
other  men,  as  well  as  ourselves,  holy.  This  surely  can  demand 
no  very  complicated  arrangements.  Whatever  we  find  in  any 
ecclesiastical  organization  which  is  not  directly  productive  of 
this  object,  whether  it  be  innocent  or  noxious,  can  claim  no 
sanction  either  from  the  precepts  of  Christ  or  his  apostles. 

The  question,  however,  may  be  asked,  What  is  the  form 
of  government  which  Christ  has  ordained  for  these  various 
communities  of  Christians  ?  I  answer,  I  do  not  perceive  in 
the  New  Testament  any  directions  on  this  subject.  I  see  there 
mention  made  of  pastors,  or  religious  teachers,  who  were  to 
preach  the  word,  and  be  examples  to  the  flock ;  and  deacons, 
whose  office  it  was  to  distribute  the  charities  of  the  disciples. 
But  how  these  were  to  be  appointed,  or  what  was  to  be  the 
form  of  the  ruling  authority,  has  not  been  authoritatively  made 
known  to  us.  I  see  nothing  in  the  New  Testament  which 
would  prevent  any  community  of  Christians  from  adopting  any 
form  of  church  government  which  they  may  esteem  most  for 
their  edification.  The  forms  which  have  been  adopted,  have, 
in  fact,  been  very  analogous  to  those  which  have  obtained  in 
civil  society.  All  of  these  are  allowable.  Each  one  of  them 
has  various  points  of  excellence.  One  may  be  better  adapted 
to  the  habits  and  associations  of  one  company  of  disciples,  and 
another  to  another.  But  neither  of  them  can,  in  my  opinion, 
claim  any  divine  authority.  One  of  them  is  as  acceptable  to 
the  Master  as  the  other,  if  it  be  administered  as  much  to  his 


THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  229 

glory  and  the  edification  of  those  who  have  chosen  to  adopt  it. 
Of  one  thing,  however,  we  may  be  certain.  The  form  of 
government  is  not  the  church  of  Christ,  any  more  than  a 
republican  constitution  is  the  people  of  the  United  States,  or  a 
monarchy  the  people  of  Great  Britain.  The  people  existed 
before  the  constitution,  and  the  true  church,  the  body  of  Christ, 
existed  before  the  establishment  of  any  ecclesiastical  organiza- 
tion. The  church  is  the  body  of  sincere  disciples ;  the  form 
of  government  is  the  manner  in  which  they  have  chosen  to 
administer  the  laws  of  Christ  in  their  intercourse  with  each 
other.  The  true  disciples  of  Christ,  who,  in  any  place,  hold 
forth  the  word  of  life,  and  are  examples  to  the  world,  would, 
in  the  most  important  sense,  be  the  church  in  that  place, 
without  any  ecclesiastical  organization  whatever.  Those  who 
were  destitute  of  his  spirit,  and  were  living  to  themselves, 
would  not  be  his  church,  but  the  world ;  no  matter  how  per- 
fect, or  how  time-honored,  may  be  the  form  of  organization 
under  which  they  may  have  been  associated. 

Now,  if  this  be  true,  it  is  evident  that  the  church  of  Christ 
must  be  something  quite  unlike  any  visible  association  existing 
on  earth.  The  qualifications  which  unite  a  man  to  the  real 
church  are  moral  dispositions,  of  which  man  can  but  imper- 
fectly take  cognizance.  Organizations,  called  by  the  name  of 
Christ,  have  frequently  been  formed,  from  which  every  true 
disciple  is  deliberately  excluded.  Societies  calling  them- 
selves churches  have  too  often  become  synagogues  of  Satan, 
and  haters  of  all  that  is  good.  But  names  cannot  alter  things, 
nor  can  the  designations  of  men  make  him  a  member  of  the 
body  of  Christ,  of  whom  Christ  himself  has  said,  "  I  never  knew 
you  :  depart  from  me,  all  ye  workers  of  iniquity."  He  is  a 
member  of  the  church  who  is  a  penitent  and  believing  disciple 
of  Christ.  He  is  no  member  of  the  church  who  is  not  such  a 
disciple,  no  matter  by  what  name  he  may  be  called. 

Thus  Christendom  is  not  the  Church  of  Christ.  By  this 
term  we  generally  designate  those  nations  which  acknowledge 
the  Bible  to  be  a  revelation  from  God,  and  have  forsaken  th« 
20 


230  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

idolatry  and  paganism  in  which  they  had  in  former  times  been 
educated.  Among  these  millions,  a  great  number  of  the 
members  of  the  church  may  be  found  ;  but  these  nations  are 
not  the  church,  for  they  contain  multitudes  who  have  no  hope, 
and  are  without  God  in  the  world.  For  the  same  reason,  the 
religion  of  Christ  cannot  recognize  such  a  thing  as  a  national 
church.  Such  a  church,  if  consistent,  admits  to  its  communion 
every  citizen  of  the  nation.  But  the  qualifications  for  admission 
to  the  church  are  entirely  unlike  those  of  citizenship.  To  be  a 
member  of  the  church,  a  man  must  be  a  member  of  the  body 
of  Christ,  while  the  mere  accident  of  birth  within  its  territory 
entitles  him  to  the  privileges  of  citizenship.  No  being  but 
Christ  himself  can  alter  the  conditions  of  admission  to  his 
church.  For  man  to  assume  such  an  authority,  would  be 
acknowledged  as  impious,  if  the  frequent  contemplation  of  the 
wrong  had  not  blinded  us  to  its  real  moral  character.  By 
what  right,  in  the  times  of  the  apostles,  could  the  emperor 
have  enacted  that  every  Roman  citizen  should  be  a  member 
of  the  church  of  Christ  ?  And  it  is  obvious  that  a  govern- 
ment possesses  no  higher  authority  over  the  church  of  Christ 
at  the  present  day,  than  at  any  preceding  period.  Religion 
is,  and  ever  has  been,  the  intercourse  which  the  spirit  of 
man  holds  with  the  unseen  and  uncreated  Spirit ;  and  with  it 
no  created  being  has  any  conceivable  right  to  interfere. 

Nor,  again,  can  any  one  of  the  sects  into  which  the  disciples 
of  Christ  are  divided,  claim  for  itself  the  exclusive  title  of  the 
Christian  church.  What  sect  can  claim  that  all  of  its  mem- 
bers are  the  unfeigned  disciples  of  Christ,  and  that  all  without 
its  pale  are  reprobates  ?  What  sect  of  the  Christian  church  is 
so  distinguished  by  a  holy  life,  by  abounding  self-denial,  by 
victory  over  the  world,  and  by  universal  charity,  that,  in  the 
sight  of  God  or  man,  it  can  dare  to  claim  such  a  preeminence  ? 
The  sect  which  approached  most  nearly  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Master,  would  be  the  last  to  indulge  in  so  arrogant  an  assump- 
tion. Let  any  man  take  the  New  Testament  in  his  hand,  and, 
selecting  those  passages  which  describe  and  define  the  charac- 


THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  231 

ter  of  a  disciple  of  Christ,  examine  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit 
which  are  produced  by  the  different  denominations  of  Chris- 
tians with  which  he  is  acquainted,  and  he  must  be  sadly  biased 
by  prejudice,  if  he  does  not  perceive  in  all  of  them,  as  com- 
munities, a  lamentable  deficiency  of  spiritual  religion ;  while 
it  will  be  strange  if  he  do  not  discover,  among  them  all,  some 
of  those  who  are  honestly  striving,  according  to  their  knowl- 
edge, to  do  the  will  of  Chi-ist  from  the  heart.  True  piety, 
membership  of  the  church  universal,  includes  all  of  no  sect ;  it 
excludes  all  of  no  sect ;  but  in  every  sect,  as  in  every  nation, 
"  he  that  feareth  God  is  accepted  of  him."  While,  however, 
I  say  this,  I  by  no  means  would  assert  that  differences  in 
religious  opinion  are  matters  of  no  importance  ;  or  that  any 
one  is  forbidden,  by  the  principles  of  charity,  from  proclaiming, 
in  all  faithfulness  and  love,  whatever  he  believes  to  be  true. 
All  truth  is  good,  for  it  comes  from  God ;  and  all  error  is  evil, 
for  it  is  derived  from  the  fountain  of  evil.  But,  while  this  is 
granted,  we  should  still  remember,  that  it  has  not  been  given  to 
us  to  determine,  in  any  particular  case,  what  is  the  degree  ot 
ignorance  or  error  which  shall  exclude  a  man  from  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  If  he  bear  in  his  life  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit, 
we  know  that  the  Spirit  of  God  must  dwell  with  him,  and  we 
know  that,  whatever  be  his  errors,  they  are  not,  in  his  particular 
case,  fatal.  This  does  not  render  his  error  the  less  erroneous, 
nor  does  it  prove  that  the  same  degree  of  error  would  be  consist- 
ent with  salvation  in  the  case  of  another.  The  admission  that 
his  heart  may  be  right,  while  his  opinions  are  wrong,  does  not 
make  true  what  is  false ;  but  it  does  furnish  a  reason  why 
notwithstanding  his  errors,  we  should  honor  the  spirit  of  Christ 
wherever  we  discover  it,  and  by  all  Christian  means  strive  tc 
teach  him  the  way  of  God  more  perfectly. 

Hence,  I  think  that  we  greatly  err,  if,  in  our  efforts  to  extend 
the  kingdom  of  Christ,  we  confine  our  interests  to  the  sect 
to  which  we  happen  to  belong;  as  though  it  were  alone,  or 
even  by  way  of  eminence,  the  company  of  true  disciples. 
The  kingdom  of  Christ  is  extended  as  the  number  of  true 


232  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

believers  is  increased,  and  as  new  members  are  added  to  big 
spiritual  body,  and  in  no  other  manner.  Hence  we  should 
rejoice  unfeignedly  in  the  progress  of  true  piety  in  any  sect, 
and  by  any  sect ;  and  we  should,  by  such  means  as  are  in  our 
power,  strive  to  promote  it.  To  oppose  it,  or  to  undervalue 
it,  because  it  is  not  the  work  of  the  sect  with  which  we  are 
connected,  is  unchristian  and  selfish.  If  a  man  cast  out 
devils  in  the  name  of  Christ,  we  should  imitate  our  Master's 
example,  and  forbid  him  not,  because  he  followeth  not  with 
us.  The  Christian's  watchword  should  ever  be,  Grace,  mercy, 
and  peace,  be  multiplied  unto  all  them  that  love  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  In  this  spirit  should  we  labor,  in  this  spirit 
should  we  pray,  and  in  this  spirit  should  we  rejoice  in  every 
event  which  advances  the  cause  of  true  godliness  among  men. 
Again,  as  I  have  intimated  before,  the  church  of  Christ  is  a 
totally  different  thing  from  any  form  of  ecclesiastical  organiza- 
tion. The  various  forms  of  church  government  are  merely 
accidents  ;  the  church  can  exist  in  connection  with  any  of  them, 
as  it  existed  anterior  to  any  of  them.  Nor  have  the  two  ideas 
any  essential  or  necessary  connection.  The  external  organ- 
ization represents  the  union  of  men  with  each  other ;  the 
church  of  Christ  represents  the  spiritual  union  of  men  to 
Christ,  who  is  the  head.  The  two  ideas  may  come  practically 
into  diametrical  opposition.  It  is  veiy  possible  to  construct  an 
organization  by  which  men  may  be  held  together  under  a 
particular  name,  and  which  will  pledge  them  to  uphold  par- 
ticular doctrines,  and  unite  in  the  performance  of  particular 
rites,  even  for  a  long  succession  of  ages.  This  organization 
may  continue  after  the  last  vestige  of  true  piety,  and  every 
distinctive  feature  of  spiritual  Christianity  has  perished  from 
among  them.  Such  is  the  fact,  at  the  present  moment,  among 
many  of  the  nations  denominated  Christian.  In  many  parts 
of  what  is  called  Christendom,  the  veiy  words  of  Christ  are 
kept  from  the  people ;  the  doctrines  of  the  cross  are  a  griev- 
ous offence,  and  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  has  been  made 
the  occasion  of  persecution  of  which  the  heathen  would  be 


THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  233 

ashamed ;  and  this  persecution  has  been  excited  by  ecclesi- 
astics themselves,  bearing  the  name  of  Christ,  and  claiming  to 
be  the  successors  of  the  apostles.  If,  then,  an  organization 
may  unite  men  under  the  name  of  Christianity,  while  it  culti- 
vates inveterate  hostility  to  the  very  teachings  of  Christ,  —  if, 
while  it  claims  to  be  the  church  of  Christ,  it  persecutes  unto 
the  death  the  true  members  of  his  body,  —  this  organization  and 
the  church  of  Christ,  must  be,  as  I  have  said,  essentially  differ- 
ent communities.  Nor  do  these  remarks  apply  exclusively  to 
any  particular  form  of  ecclesiastical  organization.  The  same 
facts  have  at  different  times  occurred  in  the  history  of  them 
all ;  and  they  will  occur  again,  until  men  shall  have  learned 
that  Christianity  exists  not  in  rites,  but  in  the  temper  of  heart 
to  God  ;  not  in  the  letter,  but  in  the  spirit. 

And  I  may  add,  that  I  do  not  perceive  in  what  manner  any 
peculiar  form  of  organization  can  be  of  special  advantage 
more  than  another  to  the  cause  of  true  religion.  Some  forms 
have,  I  grant,  a  greater  power  of  association  than  others,  and 
are  better  able  to  transmit  names  and  creeds,  and  conformity 
to  external  rites,  from  one  age  to  another.  But  has  any  one 
of  them  any  power  whatever  to  implant  in  the  heart  of  fallen 
man  the  principle  of  holiness  ?  to  translate  a  soul  from  the 
kingdom  of  Satan  into  the  kingdom  of-Christ,  and  make  it,  by 
the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  a  member  of  the  body  of 
Christ  ?  If  not,  in  what  respect  can  any  of  them  advance 
the  real  interests  of  the  cause  of  Christ  ?  Of  what  value  is 
the  power  to  retain  the  form,  when  there  is  no  power  to  retain 
the  substance  ?  Of  what  use  is  it  to  bedeck  the  corpse  with 
the  habiliments  of  life,  when  the  spirit  has  departed  ?  I  grant 
that  a  sect  possessing  no  general  and  central  organization 
must  fall  to  pieces  as  soon  as  the  animating  spirit  of  piety  has 
left  it.  And  is  it  not  better  that  it  should  fall  to  pieces  ?  If 
the  body  be  dead,  let  it  be  buried ;  it  will  otherwise  become 
a  source  of  corruption.  A  company  of  men,  calling  them- 
selves Christians,  destitute  of  the  spirit  of  Christ,  are  not  of 
Christ,  but  of  the  world.  They  belong  not  to  Christ ;  why 
20* 


234  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

should  they  wear  his  livery,  and,  by  being  false  witnesses  for 
him,  lead  immortal  souls  te  destruction  ?  The  cause  of  Christ 
and  the  welfare  of'  man  demand  that  they  be  disbanded. 
"  Let  them  be  divided  in  Jacob  and  scattered  in  Israel."  Let 
the  displeasure  of  God  be  seen  to  rest  upon  them.  But  let 
them  not  hold  the  form  of  godliness  while  they  deny  its 
power ;  and,  while  they  profess  to  be  witnesses  for  Christ,  by 
their  conduct  declare  that  they  are  living  without  God  in  the 
world.  And  I  cheerfully  accept  this  alternative  with  respect 
to  the  sect  with  which  I  am  connected.  If  it  be  not  a  pious 
sect,  earnestly  engaged  in  the  work  of  promoting  the  cause 
of  true  godliness,  as  a  distinct  organization,  it  must  perish. 
It  is  better  that  it  should.  "  If  the  salt  have  lost  its  savor,  it 
is  meet  that  it  be  cast  out,  and  trodden  under  foot  of  men." 
The  sole  object  for  which  a  visible  church  is  organized, 
is  to  advance  the  cause  of  Christ  by  rendering  men  more 
holy  ;  if  it  accomplish  not  this  object,  it  is  an  offence  which 
ought  to  be  removed,  a  moral  nuisance  which  ought  to  be 
abated.  The  principle  which  I  thus  apply  to  my  own  sect, 
I  may,  as  I  hope,  without  offence,  apply  to  every  other  sect 
of  the  Christian  church. 

In  making  these  remarks,  I  shall  not,  I  presume,  be  mis- 
understood. I  speak  here  as  the  advocate  of  no  sect,  but  as, 
I  believe,  in  the  true  spirit  of  universal  Christianity.  In 
addressing -you,  young  gentlemen,  I  am  of  no  sect.  Never, 
since  I  have  been  an  instructor,  —  nay,  I  might,  with  truth,  go 
farther, —  have  I  uttered  a  word  with  the  conscious  intention 
of  proselyting  you  to  the  denomination  of  which  I  am  a 
member.  I  have  no  right  to  use  what  little  influence  1  may 
possess,  as  an  instructor,  for  such  a  purpose.  You  have  all 
your  own  religious  preferences,  as  you  are  connected  with 
the  different  persuasions  of  Protestant  Christianity.  We 
would  have  you  enjoy  these  preferences  to  the  uttermost; 
and  in  this  institution  you  have,  from  the  beginning,  enjoyed 
them  to  the  uttermost,  not  as  a  favor,  but  as  an  inalienable 
right.  We  would  say  to  you  all,  Search  the  Scriptures,  each 


THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  235 

one  for  himself;  and,  by  the  exercise  of  your  own  under- 
standings, ascertain  what  is  the  truth  which  Jesus  Christ  has 
revealed  to  us.  Having  done  this,  unite  yourselves,  if  you 
have  not  yet  done  it,  to  that  sect  whose  belief  and  practice 
seem  most  in  harmony  with  the  teachings  of  the  holy  oracle. 
Understand  what  you  profess,  and  be  always  ready,  as  intelli- 
gent men,  to  give  to  others  a  reason  of  your  faith.  But 
guard  yourselves  against  the  notion  that  your  sect  is,  in  any 
exclusive  sense,  the  church  of  Christ,  or  that',  in  any  special 
sense,  it  imbodies  the  heirs  of  heaven  or  the  favorites  of  God. 
Reverence,  and  love,  and  imitate  real  piety,  wherever  you 
may  find  it.  Your  great  distinction  is  not  that  you  are  a 
member  of  this  or  of  that  sect,  but  that  you  are  a  child  of 
God,  and  an  humble,  self-denying  disciple  of  the  blessed  Savior. 
Study,  by  all  the  means  in  your  power,  to  advance  the  cause 
of  truth  and  holiness  among  mea ;  and  rejoice  as  much  and 
as  truly  to  witness  the  prosperity  of  religion  among  other 
sects  as  in  your  own.  This,  if  I  understand  it,  is  the  spirit  of 
real,  universal  Christianity.  This  is  the  spirit  exemplified  by 
Him  who  came  to  seek  and  to  save  them  that  were  lost ;  who 
died  to  create  in  us  a  new  life  ;  and  who  accepts  the  worship 
of  all  who  worship  him  in  sincerity  and  truth. 

And,  finally,  let  this  discussion  teach  us  that  our  connection 
with  a  particular  sect  is  no  evidence  whatever  that  we  are 
^members  of  the  church  of  Christ.  Sects  are  of  human 
origin,  the  work  of  man,  and  by  the  will  of  man  are  we 
admitted  to  them.  The  disciple  of  Christ  is  born,  not  of  the 
will  of  man,  but  of  God.  The  church  of  Christ  is  composed 
exclusively  of  those  that  are  new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus, 
who  are  crucified  to  the  world,  and  are  living  by  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ.  Let  us  not  then  deceive  ourselves  by  living 
contented  with  any  mere  profession  of  Christianity.  Against 
this  fatal  and  most  common  error,  our  Lord  has  specially 
forewarned  us.  "  Not  every  one  that  saith  unto  me,  Lord, 
Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  but  he  that 
doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven."  "  Many 


236  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

will  say  unto  me  in  that  day,  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not  proph- 
esied in  thy  name,  and  in  thy  jiame  cast  out  devils,  and  in 
thy  name  done  many  wonderful  works  ?  And  then  will  i 
profess  unto  them,  I  never  knew  you  ;  depart  from  me,  yt 
that  work  iniquity."  Let  us,  then,  look  far  beyond  our  pro- 
fession, and  try  ourselves  by  the  temper  of  our  hearts.  "  We 
must  judge  ourselves  if  we  would  not  be  condemned."  It  is 
moral  character  alone  which  unites  us  to  Christ.  It  is  the 
indwelling  of  the  Spirit  which  creates  us  the  children  of  God. 
And  if  that  Spirit  dwell  not  in  us,  whatever  be  our  profes- 
sion, at  the  great  day  we  shall  be  cast  out  as  reprobates. 


'         T  I  »         !  < 


THE  UNITY  OP  THE  CHURCH. 


"  NEITHER  PRAT  I  FOR  THESE  ALONE,  BUT  FOR  THEM  ALSO  THAT  SHALL 

BELIEVE  ON  ME  THROUGH  THEIR  WORD  ;  THAT  THEY  ALL  MAY  BE 
ONE,  AS  THOU,  FATHER,  ART  IN  ME  AND  I  IN  THEE,  THAT  THEY 
ALSO  MAY  BE  ONE  IN  US;  THAT  THE  WORLD  MAY  BELIEVE  THAT 
THOU  HAST  SENT  ME." 

John  xvii.  20,  21. 

HAVING,  in  the  previous  discourse,  attempted  to  define  the 
character  of  the  church  of  Christ,  I  proceed  to  inquire  into 
the  nature  of  that  unity  for  which  the  Redeemer,  in  the  text, 
makes  supplication. 

Does  this  unity  consist  in  identity  of  knowledge  ?  Plainly 
not.  The  disciples  of  Christ  differ  in  this  respect  as  much 
as  other  men.  In  the  school  of  Christ  are  to  be  found  the 
child,  whose  intellect  has  but  just  begun  to  unfold  itself,  and  the 
sage,  to  whose  teachings  nations  listen  with  reverence  ;  the 
savage,  who  has  not  yet  heard  even  the  name  of  science,  and 
the  philosopher,  whose  discoveries  have  filled  the  world  with 
his  renown.  Nor  is  this  true  alone  of  human  knowledge. 
There  are  to  be  found  in  the  church  of  Christ  believers,  the 
eyes  of  whose  understandings  have  been  but  lately  opened 
upon  the  wonderful  truths  of  redeeming  love,  as  well  as  those 
who,  by  the  habitual  contemplation  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
cross,  have  arrived  at  the  stature  bf  perfect  men  in  Christ 
Jesus.  It  is  obvious  that  inasmuch  as  piety  is  a  temper  of 
heart,  it  may  exist  amid  every  variety  and  with  every  degree 
of  spiritual  knowledge.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  in  identity 
of  knowledge  that  the  unity  spoken  of  in  the  text  consists. 

Does  this  unity  consist  in  identity  of  opinion  on  all  the 


238  THE    UNITY -OF    THE    CHURCH. 

truths  even  of  religion  ?  I  answer  again,  Plainly  not.  Diver- 
sity of  knowledge,  and  of  intellectual  and  spiritual  culture, 
must,  by  necessity,  produce  differences  of  opinion.  The  light 
of  the  sun,  always  pure,  always  the  same,  is  reflected  in 
different  colors,  as  it  falls  upon  the  differently  organized  sur- 
faces of  the  objects  which  surround  us.  So,  the  same  truth 
will  be  differently  apprehended  by  men  of  unequal  endow- 
ments, of  dissimilar  attainments,  and  of  diversified  opportuni- 
ties for  spiritual  cultivation.  The  apostle  Paul,  who  had 
profited  in  the  Jews'  religion  above  many  who  were  his  equals, 
and  had  moreover  drunk  deeply  at  the  wells  of  classical  learn- 
ing, formed  conceptions  of  divine  truth  very  dissimilar  to 
those  of  a  Jew  who  had  devoted  his  whole  life  to  the  traditions 
of  the  fathers,  and  whose  intellectual  thirst  had  been  slaked 
only  at  the  streams  which  trickled,  in  muddy  obscurity,  from 
the  cisterns  of  rabbinical  logomachy ;  although  both  of  them 
might  have  truly  submitted  themselves  to  the  teachings  of 
Jesus.  Every  thing,  as  the  schoolmen  have  said,  is  received 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  recipient.  Seed,  under  the 
proper  conditions  of  warmth  and  moisture,  will  spring  up  and 
bear  fruit  any  where  ;  but  the  vegetation  will  be  more  vigor- 
ous, and  the  fruit  richer  and  more  abundant,  in  the  well-tilled 
field  than  on  the  stony  and  neglected  heath. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  truths  which  are  essential  to  salva- 
tion are  revealed  to  us  in  the  Bible  with  indubitable  clearness. 
But,  beyond  these,  there  is  much  knowledge  at  which  we 
would  gladly  arrive,  which  has  not  been  revealed,  and  con- 
cerning which,  we  may  form  opinions,  and  nothing  more  than 
opinions.  On  such  subjects  as  these,  it  is  not  remarkable  that 
different  opinions  should  be  formed  by  men  of  dissimilar 
degrees  of  knowledge  and  great  variety  of  intellectual  cul- 
ture. And,  still  more,  the  Bible  generally  reveals  to  us  facts ; 
while  the  theory  of  these  facts  is  commonly  unrevealed. 
When  men  form  theories  for  the  purpose  of  explaining  truth, 
they  will  form  them  in  harmony  with  their  previous  habits 
of  thought.  Of  these  various  theories,  in  explanation  of  a 


THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH.          239 

particular  fact,  but  one,  at  best,  can  be  true,  and  most  likely  all 
of  them  will  be  false,  since  it  is  very  difficult  for  man  to  dis- 
cover what  God  has  seen  fit  to  conceal.  To  illustrate  my 
meaning  by  a  single  case  :  The  Bible  reveals  to  us  the  fact  of 
man's  universal  sinfulness,  and  of  a  connection  between  this 
sinfulness  and  the  sin  of  our  first  parents.  This  is  all  that  it 
behoves  us  to  know.  This  is  sufficient  to  show  the  necessity 
of  a  way  of  salvation  by  grace.  This  granted,  all  the  doc- 
trines that  flow  from  it  assume  their  position  by  the  necessity 
of  reason,  no  less  than  by  the  teaching  of  revelation.  But 
the  precise  manner  in  which  man  at  first  becomes  a  sinner, 
and  the  manner  in  which  our  moral  constitution  has  been 
affected  by  the  sin  of  Adam,  have  not,  that  I  know  of,  been 
any  where  revealed ;  and  yet,  on  these  questions,  how  many 
volumes  have  been  written,  how  many  controversies  waged, 
and  how  much  animosity  excited  !  All  men  who  receive  the 
Bible  as  a  revelation  from  heaven  must  agree  as  to  the 
revealed  fact ;  but  they  may  all  differ  among  themselves  in 
respect  to  the  unrevealed  theory.  And  yet  it  is  in  respect  to 
this  unrevealed  theory  that  they  have  so  fiercely  insisted  upon 
uniformity  of  opinion.  The  same  remarks  apply  with  equal 
force  to  the  controversies  which  have  been  waged  respecting 
the  doctrines  of  the  sovereignty  of  God  and  the  free  agency  of 
man.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  the  unity  of  the  church  of  God 
does  not  consist  in  identity  of  belief  in  matters  of  opinion. 

Does  the  unity  of  the  Christian  church  consist  in  uniformity 
of  practice,  t/en  in  matters  strictly  religious?  I  answer 
again,  Clearly  not.  This  uniformity  of  practice  did  not  exist 
even  in  apostolic  times,  and  under  the  preaching  of  inspired 
teachers  themselves.  There  was  seen  hi  the  church  at  Rome 
considerable  diversity  of  practice.  "  One  believed  that  he 
might  eat  all  things,  another  would  eat  only  herbs."  "  One 
man  esteemed  one  day  above  another,  another  esteemed  every 
day  alike."  So,  in  the  church  at  Corinth,  there  were  some 
who,  knowing  that  the  whole  system  of  mythology  was  a 
childish  absurdity,  could,  without  offence,  eat  the  flesh  of  an 


240  THE    UNITY    OF    THE    CHURCH. 

animal  that  had  been  killed  in  sacrifice  to  an  idol ,  others, 
whose  minds  were  not  freed  from  early  associations,  refused  to 
do  it.  In  other  churches,  again,  there  were  those  who  believed 
that  the  rite  of  circumcision  should  be  observed  for  the  sake 
of  expediency ;  others  wholly  rejected  it.  The  apostle  Paul 
by  no  means  condemned  these  differences  of  opinion  or  of 
practice.  He  merely  taught  that  every  one  should  be  fully 
persuaded  in  his  own  mind,  and  that,  whatever  might  be  his 
practice,  he  should  observe  it,  because  he  believed  that,  in  so 
doing,  he  would  be  most  acceptable  to  God.  He  held  forth 
the  principle  by  which  every  disciple  of  Christ  must  be 
governed, —  "  No  man  liveth  to  himself,  and  no  man  dieth  to 
himself; "  and  allowed  every  man  to  apply  it  to  his  own  case, 
in  matters  of  this  kind,  as  his  own  understanding  and  con- 
science should  direct.  I  do  not  perceive  any  other  manner  in 
which  an  intelligent  moral  agent,  accountable  to  God,  can  be 
guided  in  the  path  of  his  duty. 

In  the  Scriptures,  the  principles  which  should  govern  us  in 
our  relations  to  God,  and  in  our  essential  relations  to  man,  are 
clearly  made  known.  It  is  required  of  us,  that  honestly,  and 
in  the  fear  of  God,  we  govern  our  lives  in  conformity  to  them. 
But  among  the  varieties  of  human  character  and  education,  and 
amid  the. exigencies  of  human  condition,  it  is  not  possible  that 
all  men  should  apply  these  principles  in  the  same  manner  and  to 
the  same  things.  The  revealed  will  of  God  may  seem  to  one 
man  to  render  obligatory  a  course  of  action,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Romans  alluded  to,  which  to  another  seems  indifferent.  Hence, 
if  each  one  obeys  what  he  believes  to  be  the  will  of  God, 
there  must  arise  diversity  of  practice.  The  moral  law  teaches 
that,  in  these  cases,  where  nothing  is  definitely  prescribed, 
each  one  do,  from  the  heart,  what  he  believes  to  be  com- 
manded, or,  in  the  words  of  the  apostle,  that  every  one  be 
fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind.  And  the  same  apostle 
teaches  us  that,  on  account  of  these  differences  of  practice,  "  no 
one  should  judge  his  brother,  and  no  one  should  set  at  nought 
his  brother,  since  we  must  all  appear  before  the  judgment 


THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH.          241 

seat  of  Christ,  and  it  is  to  the  Master  alone  that  every  one  of 
us  standeth  or  falleth. 

Hence  it  will  appear,  that  since  the  unity  of  the  Christian 
church  allows  of  all  these  differences  both  in  opinion  and 
practice,  it  presupposes  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  right  of  pri- 
vate judgment.  It  imposes  upon  us  no  obligation  to  believe 
according  to  the  decisions  of  councils  or  synods,  or  ministers 
or  prelates,  or  the  sect,  or  party,  to  which  we  belong.  What 
God  requires  us  to  believe,  he  has  clearly  made  known  to  the 
understanding  of  each  one  of  us,  and  what  is  left  to  our  own 
inferences  is  not  a  matter  for  the  dictation  of  our  fellow-men. 
In  the  concerns  of  religion,  no  created  beings  can  interpose 
between  the  soul  and  God ;  nor  can  any  combinaion  of  men, 
without  daring  impiety,  either  add  to  or  take  from  aught  that 
God  has  commanded.  With  these  views,  the  disciple  of  Christ 
unites  himself  with  that  community  of  Christians  whose  views 
harmonize  most  nearly  with  his  own.  He  unites  with  them, 
in  preference  to  others,  because  his  belief  and  practice  are  in 
conformity  with  theirs  ;  but  he  neither  believes  a  doctrine  nor 
performs  a  duty  because  he  has  united  with  them.  Neither  his 
sect  nor  his  church  can  impose  upon  him  any  duty  which  the 
Master  has  not  imposed.  The  point  of  union  with  each  other 
is  not  obedience  to  ecclesiastical  authority,  but  a  similar  under- 
standing of  the  commands  of  the  Master  who  is  head  over  all. 

The  unity  of  the  church  of  Christ  cannot  proceed  from 
without ;  it  must  proceed  from  within.  We  cannot,  with  a  good 
conscience  towards  God,  either  believe  or  act  as  our  fellow- 
men  shall  direct ;  but  we  must  believe  what  our  intellect 
teaches  us  to  be  true,  and  do  what  our  conscience,  enlightened 
by  the  revelation  from  God,  declares  to  be  right.  Nor,  if  we 
should  choose  to  disobey  this  elementary  instinct  of  our  moral 
nature,  could  we  by  this  suicidal  sacrifice  attain  to  unity. 
Suppose  we  choose  to  surrender  our  intellect  and  conscience 
into  the  hands  of  ecclesiastical  teachers,  —  what  teachers  shall 
wo  select  ?  Those  who  claim  the  right  to  exercise  dominion 
over  our  faith,  differ  among  themselves  as  widely  as  we  should 


242  THE    UNITY    OF    THE    CHURCH. 

differ  by  the  exercise  of  private  judgment.  We  should  gain 
nothing  by  the  change  ;  while,  in  submitting  our  conscience  to 
man,  we  have  bowed  down  to  the  creature  instead  of  the 
Creator.  Nay,  more  :  if  our  Christian  brethren,  whether  they 
be  clergy  or  laity,  assume  authority  over  our  conscience,  and 
demand  that  we  shall  believe  or  act,  in  matters  of  religion, 
because  they  have  so  enacted,  and  not  because  Christ  has 
commanded  it,  they  are  guilty  of  lording  it  over  God's  heritage, 
and  their  conduct  merits  nothing  but  contempt  and  detestation. 

We  inquire,  then,  In  what  does  the  unity  of  the  church, 
spoken  of  in  the  text,  really  consist  ?  I  answer,  It  consists  in 
identity  of  moral  affections,  in  a  right  temper  of  heart  towards 
God  and  towards  our  fellow-men.  After  what  I  have  said  in 
the  preceding  discourse,  a  few  remarks  will  suffice  to  illustrate 
this  part  of  our  subject. 

I  have  said  that  every  member  of  the  true  church  of  Christ 
is  a  member  of  the  body  of  Christ,  and  is  pervaded  by  the 
spirit  of  Christ.  The  Spirit  of  God  dwells  in  his  heart,  influ- 
encing him  to  do  those  things,  and  to  exercise  those  affections, 
that  are  well  pleasing  to  God.  "  If  a  man  have  not  the  spirit 
of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  his."  "  And  as  many  as  are  led  by 
the  Spirit  of  God,  they  are  the  sons  of  God."  There  is,  then, 
one  infinite,  all-wise,  and  all-holy  Spirit  to  lead  them  all ;  there 
is  in  every  one  of  them  a  disposition  to  be  led  by  that  Spirit. 
They  must,  then,  all  be  taught  alike  ;  they  must  cherish  the 
same  moral  affections,  and  be  conformed  to  the  same  image  — 
the  image  of  Christ,  who  is  the  head.  Identity  of  moral 
character,  then,  flows  by  necessity  from  renewal  of  heart  and 
sanctification  of  the  spirit ;  without  which  no  man  can  be  a 
disciple  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Those  who  are  taught  by  the  Spirit  of  God  have  the  same 
moral  affections  to  God.  They  look  up  to  him  as  a  reconciled 
Father  in  Christ  Jesus  ;  to  him  they  joyfully  surrender  up  their 
affections  and  their  will ;  they  desire  that  not  their  will,  but  his, 
should  be  done  ;  they  mourn  over  their  past  sins  and  their 
present  misdoings ;  and,  looking  for  pardon  through  his  well- 


THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH.          243 

beloved  Son,  earnestly,  and  above  all  things,  desire  to  be  deliv- 
ered from  the  power  of  evil,  and  to  be  made  perfect  in  holiness. 
"  They  have  not  received  the  spirit  of  bondage  again  to  fear, 
but  the  spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  they  cry,  Abba,  Father." 

Those  who  are  taught  of  the  Spirit  have  the  same  affections 
towards  men.  There  is  implanted  in  their  bosoms  the  spirit  of 
universal  love.  All  men  are  their  brethren  —  brethren  for 
whom  Christ  died  ;  and  "  if  he  laid  down  his  life  for  us,"  his 
spirit  teaches  us  that  "  we  ought  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  the 
brethren."  The  pen  of  inspiration  has  delineated  the  fea- 
tures of  that  temper  towards  man  which  dwells  in  the  heart 
of  eveiy  disciple  of  Christ,  without  which,  whatever  be  our 
profession,  we  are  as  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal. 
"  Charity  suffereth  long  and  is  kind,  charity  envieth  not,  charity 
vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up,  doth  not  behave  itself 
unseemly,  seeketh  not  her  own,  is  not  easily  provoked,  thinketh 
no  evil,  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth ; 
beareth  all  things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things, 
endureth  all  things."  Such  is  the  temper  towards  man  which 
the  Holy  Spirit  creates  in  the  heart  of  every  disciple  of  Christ. 

Again :  the  spirit  of  Christ  proposes  the  same  object  of  living 
for  every  true  member  of  his  body.  The  believer  has  been 
redeemed,  not  with  corruptible  things,  but  with  the  precious 
blood  of  Christ.  All  were  dead,  and  "  Christ  died  for  all,  that 
we,  which  live,  should  not  live  unto  ourselves,  but  unto  him 
which  died  for  us  and  rose  again."  By  the  principle  of  grat- 
itude, then,  as  a  redeemed  sinner,  no  less  than  of  original  duty 
as  a  creature  of  God,  he  is  under  obligation  to  consecrate  all 
that  he  possesses,  and  all  that  he  is,  to  the  cause  of  Christ. 
His  object  of  life  is  not  to  secure  to  himself  the  honors,  or 
pleasures,  or  riches,  or  power  of  the  present  life  ;  but  to  con- 
tend against  all  sin,  and  advance  the  whole  race,  as  well  as 
himself,  in  all  goodness,  so  that  the  will  of  God  may  be  done 
on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven. 

Such,  then,  is  the  manifestation  of  the  Spirit  in  every 
renewed  soul.  Such  is  the  peculiar  type  of  character  which 


244 


THE    UNITY    OF    THE    CHURCH. 


the  religion  of  the  Bible  creates  and  cultivates  in  the  heart  of 
every  one  who  is  a  member  of  the  body  of  Christ.  In  all 
ages,  these  elements  of  character  may  be  discovered,  wherever 
a  man  has  been  born  of  the  Spirit.  It  is  in  this  respect  that 
the  church  is  one.  These  moral  dispositions  unite  together  the 
saints  of  all  ages,  and  nations,  and  of  every  variety  of  mental 
culture  ;  and  also  unite  the  church  on  earth  to  the  "  general 
assembly  and  church  of  the  first-born  who  are  written  in 
heaven."  That  this  type  of  character  ever  exists  in  perfection 
amid  the  ignorance  and  blindness  of  earth,  of  course,  I  do 
not  assert.  It  was  only  realized  without  spot  or  blemish,  in 
the  Lamb  of  God  who  took  away  the  sins  of  the  world,  and, 
by  his  perfect  obedience  and  death,  wrought  out  our  redemp- 
tion. His  disciples  make  nearer  and  nearer  approaches  to  it 
as  they  make  greater  and  greater  attainments  in  holiness.  But 
no  one  is  a  disciple  of  Christ  who  does  not  set  the  holy 
example  of  his  Master  before  him,  and  honestly,  earnestly,  and 
above  all  things  else,  strive,  in  the  temper  of  his  heart  and  the 
practice  of  his  life,  to  be  transformed  into  the  same  image. 

But,  it  may  reasonably  be  asked,  Does  not  such  a  temper 
of  heart  presuppose  some  identity  of  belief,  and  is  not  therefore 
a  peculiar  belief  necessary  to  salvation  ?  I  reply,  It  is  evident 
that  our  affections  must  be  the  result  of  our  knowledge.  No 
man  can  come  to  God,  unless  he  believe  that  there  is  a  God. 
No  man  can  love  God  as  a  Father,  unless  he  have  .some  suit- 
able conceptions  of  the  character  of  God.  No  man  can 
believe  in  Christ,  unless  he  know  what  Christ  has  done  for 
him.  It  is,  therefore,  evident  that,  unless  there  be  a  belief  of 
the  truth,  there  can  never  exist  the  affections  which  are  its 
natural  result.  Fatal  error  begins  where  a  man's  belief  on 
matters  of  religion  is  inconsistent  with  those  tempers  of  heart 
which  unite  the  soul  to  Christ.  This  point  may  not  be  the 
same  in  all  persons,  and  under  various  circumstances  of  edu- 
cation and  knowledge.  God  knows  where  it  is  for  each  one 
of  us,  but  I  do  not  know  that  he  has  revealed  it  to  us.  If 
we  honestly,  earnestly,  and  humbly  seek  for  the  truth,  we 


THE    UNITY    OF    THE    CHUKCH. 

shall  never  fall  into  fatal  error.  Hence,  for  a  good  and  pious 
man  to  be  lost,  because  he  does  not  believe  a  particular  doc- 
trine, is  impossible.  No  man  is  lost  simply  because  of  his 
belief ;  but  because  that  belief  is  of  such  a  nature  that  it  is 
inconsistent  with  goodness  and  piety ;  and  because  he  has 
sinfully  clung  to  his  error,  turning  away  from  all  the  light 
which  a  compassionate  God  has  thrown  around  him. 

But  it  may  be  well  for  us  to  examine  this  question  by  the 
light  of  history,  and  inquire  whether  it  be  the  fact,  that  this 
identity  of  moral  character  has,  in  all  ages,  been  manifested  in 
the  lives  of  those  whom  the  Bible  designates  as  the  children 
of  God.  Have  those  who  have  subjected  themselves  to  the 
teachings  of  revelation,  exhibited  the  same  moral  affections  to 
God,  the  same  love  to  man,  and  the  same  unity  of  object  ? 

All  these  questions  may,  I  think,  be  easily  answered  in  the 
affirmative.  A  peculiar  and  unique  form  of  character  is 
clearly  to  be  observed  in  all  those  who  are  called  the  children 
of  God,  from  the  beginning  of  the  inspired  record  to  the  present 
moment.  It  is  totally  unlike  any  form  of  character  elsewhere 
to  be  observed  ;  it  is  derived  from  moral  views  which  this 
world  does  not  present ;  it  is  not  indigenous  to  our  nature  in 
its  present  lapsed  condition  ;  it  is  every  where  similar  to  itself, 
and  unlike  the  world  around  it ;  and  every  where  it  reveals 
itself  as  the  meet  preparation  for  the  society  of  that  "  city 
which  hath  foundations,  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God." 

Take,  if  you  will,  the  example  of  AKraham.  Observe  the 
filial  confidence  in  God,  the  profound  and  unhesitating  submis- 
sion to  his  will,  which  shone  forth  in  the  whole  life  of  this 
venerable  patriarch ;  add  to  this,  his  meek  and  self-sacrificing 
love  of  peace,  —  though  he  was  a  man  of  Oriental  loftiness  of 
spirit,  —  and  his  interceding  earnestness  in  behalf  of  the  doomed 
cities  of  the  plain  ;  and  you  instantly  recognize  the  elements 
of  that  character,  which,  under  both  the  Old  Testament  and 
the  New,  designate  a  man  as  the  friend  of  God,  and  an  inher- 
itor of  the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed.  Make  the  allowance 
which  belongs  to  difference  of  condition  and  culture,  and  you 
21* 


246 


THE    UNITY    OF    THE    CHURCH. 


observe  the  same  moral  affections  governing  the  life  of  Moses, 
"  who  chose  rather  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people  of  God 
than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season  ; "  who,  for  forty 
yegjs,  bore  with  meekness  the  contradiction  of  his  brethren  in 
the  wilderness,  and  refused  the  offei  of  being  himself  made  a 
great  nation,  lest  his  people  should  be  destroyed,  and  the  name 
of  God  dishonored.  You  perceive  the  same,  or  similar  ele- 
ments, in  the  character  of  Samuel,  the  patriot  seer;  of  David, 
the  warrior  minstrel ;  of  Isaiah,  the  seraphic  prophet,  and  of 
the  other  messengers  of  Heaven,  who  recalled  their  country- 
men from  the -worship  of  idols,  and  revealed  to  them  the  holi- 
ness and  the  compassion  of  the  God  of  Abraham. 

And,  besides  this,  the  form  of  moral  character  which  these 
men  exemplified  has  been  the  study  of  the  godly  through  all 
subsequent  time.  Their  trains  of  thought  on  other  subjects 
have,  for  ages,  been  forgotten ;  and  could  they  be  recalled, 
there  would  be  scarcely  any  thing  on  earth  with  which  they 
would  now  be  in  analogy.  But  the  saint,  walking  in  darkness, 
when  every  thing  else  has  failed  him  but  the  promise  of  God, 
still  strengthens  his  faith  by  meditating  upon  the  example  of 
Abraham.  The  confessor,  who  has  surrendered  all  for  Christ, 
remembers  the  example  of  Moses,  and  is  comforted.  The 
penitent  sorrowing  for  sin,  and  the  believer  rejoicing  in  God, 
can  find  no  language  in  which  he  can  so  adequately  pour 
forth  the  deep  emotions  of  his  soul,  as  in  that  of  David  and 
of  Asaph.  Thus  the  pious,  in  all  ages,  have  acknowledged 
themselves  the  children  of  those,  who,  under  the  comparative 
darkness  of  a  distant  dispensation,  trusted  in  God  ;  and,  in  the 
consciousness  of  moral  feeling  identical  with  theirs,  joyfully 
accepted  the  evidence  that  they  were  the  followers  of  those 
"  who,  through  faith  and  patience,  inherited  the  promises." 

Or  take,  for  instance,  the  ages  which  intervened  between 
the  early  period  of  the  church  and  the  Protestant  reformation, 
and,  amidst  the  darkness  which  so  long  brooded  over  our  race, 
under  the  despotism  of  an  ignorant,  profligate,  and  apostate 
priesthood,  you  will  find  that  God,  even  then,  did  not  leave 


THE    UNITY    OF    THE    CHURCH. 


247 


himself  without  a  witness.  Scattered  here  and  there,  amidst 
the  millions  of  Christian  idolaters,  you  might  find  the  true 
successors  of  the  apostles  —  men  who,  following  in  the  footsteps 
of  Christ,  were  renouncing  the  world,  living  for  heaven,  shed- 
ding around  them  the  lustre  of  a  holy  example,  and  cherishing 
in  their  hearts  the  true  love  of  man.  Such  men  as  Bernard, 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  Huss,  Wickliffe,  and  the  Waldenses  of 
Piedmont,  taking  the  word  of  God  for  the  rule  of  their  lives, 
and  the  consolations  of  the  gospel  for  the  ground  of  their  hope, 
handed  down,  through  successive  ages,  the  light  of  everlasting 
truth  to  those  for  whom  was  reserved  the  dawn  of  a  brighter 
and  more  illustrious  day. 

Since  the  reformation,  the  disciples  of  Christ  have  con- 
stituted for  themselves  different  sects,  as  was  natural,  and 
without  offence.  On  the  various  points  upon  which  they  have 
differed,  there  have  arisen  controversy,  disputation,  and  fre- 
quently collision ;  although  this  latter  has  almost  always  ori- 
ginated in  the  unchristian  and  oppressive  union  of  the  church 
with  the  state.  But,  notwithstanding  all  this,  the  essential 
union  of  which  I  have  spoken  has  been  preserved  among  the 
true,  not  nominal,  disciples  of  Christ.  Where  is  the  Protestant 
whose  spirit  has  not  been  purified  while  listening  to  the  per- 
suasive piety  and  meek  'visdom  of  Fcnelon,  or  whose  knowl- 
edge of  his  own  heart  has  not  been  extended,  while  its  deep 
recesses  have  been  explored  by  the  searching  eloquence  of 
Massillon  ?  What  member  of  the  whole  church  of  Christ  has 
not  trodden  in  the  steps  of  the  "  Pilgrim  "  of  Bunyan  ?  Whose 
aspirations  after  holiness  have  not  been  quickened  by  reading 
the  "  Saints'  Rest "  of  Baxter  ?  Where  is  the  man,  of  any 
sect,  who  has  not  derived  spiritual  advantage  from  the  "  Rise 
and  Progress  "  of  Doddridge  ?  Who  of  us  has  not  examined 
his  title  to  heaven  more  carefully  by  the  aid  derived  from 
the  "  Treatise  on  the  Religious  Affections "  of  Edwards  ? 
Whose  devotions  have  not  been  animated  by  the  prayers  and 
meditations  of  Bishops  Andrews,  Wilson,  and  Hall  ?  In 
bringing  our  spirits  under  the  influence  of  these  works,  and 


248  THE    UNITY    OF    THE    CHURCH. 

such  as  these,  we  forget  that  there  ever  have  been  sects  in  the 
Christian  church ;  we  feel  that  the  words  of  these  holy  men 
express  the  inmost  sentiments  of  our  souls ;  we  are  conscious 
that  we  and  they  are  one  with  Christ  and  one  with-  each  other ; 
and  we  long  for  the  time  when,  having  put  aside  these  bodies 
of  flesh,  our  union  with  them  shall  be  perfected  before  the 
throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb. 

The  authors  whose  names  I  have  mentioned  were,  some  of 
them  at  least,  among  the  most  voluminous  among  the  writers 
even  of  theological  controversy.  Their  treatises  and  dispu- 
tations on  topics  incidental  to  piety  would  of  themselves  form, 
in  amount,  no  contemptible  theological  library ;  and  the  bare 
enumeration  of  them  would  exhaust  the  time  that  remains  to 
us  of  this  discourse.  But  these  works  are  now  almost  for- 
gotten, and  they  have  been  transferred  from  the  hands  of  the 
student  to  those  of  the  antiquarian.  The  works  by  which  these 
truly  great  men  are  now  known,  and  through  means  of  which 
they  are  now  loved  and  revered,  are  precisely  those  which 
tend  to  cultivate  in  the  heart  of  man  true  love  to  God  and 
universal  charity  to  man.  When  they  treated  on  these  topics, 
they  touched  a  chord  which  awakened  a  corresponding  vibra- 
tion in  every  heart  that  had  been  attuned  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 
These  are  the  works  which  the  sons  of  God  would  not  willingly 
let  die,  while?  all  the  rest  they  have  consented  to  surrender  to 
oblivion.  Thus  it  is  that  the  piety  of  a  soul  in  any  age 
awakens  a  moral  sympathy  in  the  pious  souls  of  every  suc- 
ceeding age.  Though  centuries  may  intervene  between  their 
sojourning  on  earth,  each  one  acknowledges  the  other  as  a 
brother,  and,  forgetting  the  matters  of  opinion  on  which  they 
may  have  differed,  encircles  him  in  the  embrace  of  Christian 
fellowship,  and  humbly  endeavors  to  tread  in  the  footsteps 
of  those  "  who,  through  faith  and  patience,  have  inherited  the 
promises." 

Now,  in  all  this,  I  cannot  but  believe  that  there  is  something 
which  could  not  have  existed  were  not  the  religion  taught  by 
the  Bible  a  revelation  from  Heaven.  Here  is  a  type  of  char- 


THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH.          249 

acter  peculiar  and  by  itself,  and,  in  many  respects,  decidedly 
at  variance  with  the  ordinary  principles  of  human  nature.  It 
exists  the  same  under  every  modification  of  revealed  truth  ;  it 
passes'  onward,  through  the  current  of  controversy,  without 
becoming  commingled  with  it;  every  where  it  is  recognized 
by  every  one  who  possesses  it,  and  it  unites  them  all  in  the 
brotherhood  of  the  Spirit.  It  is  designated  by  the  exercise  of 
the  same  affections,  by  the  cherishing  of  the  same  hopes,  and 
the  dread  of  the  same  dangers ;  its  sentiments  in  the  most 
distant  ages,  and  amidst  every  variety  of  social  condition,  are 
expressed  by  the  same  identical  language ;  it  tends  ever  to  the 
same  result ;  and  all  who  possess  it  rejoice  in  the  prospect  of 
meeting  the  same  Savior,  with  all  his  redeemed  ones,  in  the 
same  mansions  of  everlasting  rest.  If  this  be  so,  then,  surely, 
in  so  far  as  this,  the  prayer  of  the  Savior  has  been  answered  ; 
those  that  believe  on  him  are  one,  and  this  unity  is  an  abiding 
evidence  that  the  Father  has  sent  him. 

And,  lastly,  it  is  clearly  the  will  of  Christ  that  this  unity  of 
his  disciples  should  be  manifested  to  the  world.  He  prays 
"  that  they  may  be  one,  that  the  world  may  believe  that  the 
Father  has  sent  him."  But  the  world  cannot  be  convinced  by 
the  fact,  unless,  by  our  conduct,  the  fact  be  made  obvious.  He 
requires  that  those  who  are  members  of  his  body  should  con- 
fess their  union  with  him  before  men.  For  the  same  reason, 
he  requires  that  those  who  are  members  of  each  other  should 
witness  by  their  brotherly  love  the  same  confession.  He  him- 
self gave  the  first  illustration  of  this  love  by  declaring  it  para- 
mount to  every  other  form  of  affection.  "  He  stretched  forth 
his  hand  towards  his  disciples,  and  said,  Behold  my  mother  and 
my  brethren ;  for  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my  Father, 
who  is  in  heaven,  the  same  is  my  brother,  and  sister,  and 
mother."  And,  in  the  times  of  the  apostles,  and  afterwards, 
this  more  than  fraternal  love  of*uie  disciples  of  Christ  was 
fully  and  nobly  exemplified.  It  was  the  universal  badge  of 
discipleship.  "  We  know  that  we  have  passed  from  death 
unto  life,  because  we  love  the  brethren."  "  Every  one  that 


250          THE  UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

loveth  is  born  of  God,  and  knoweth  God."  And,  in  the  early 
ages  of  the  church,  the  manifestation  of  this  love  amid  perse- 
cution unto  death,  became  one  of  the  most  convincing  proofs 
of  the  reality  of  religion.  The  heathen  every  where  confessed 
that  they  knew  of  no  principles  which  were  capable  of  pro- 
ducing such  effects,  and  were  obliged  to  admit  that  love  such 
as  this  was  of  God. 

And,  if  this  be  true,  it  is  also  true  that  the  manifestation  of 
this  love  is  an  end  to  be  desired  for  itself.  It  is  an  incom- 
parable blessing,  a  source  of  pure,  elevated,  and  ennobling  joy, 
and  it  is  one  of  the  means  which  Christ  himself  has  appointed 
for  the  conversion  of  the  world.  Were  it  exemplified  as  Christ 
and  his  apostles  exemplified  it,  it  would  furnish  a  stronger  and 
more  convincing  argument  for  the  authenticity  of  the  mission 
of  Christ,  than  all  the  works  of  controversy  that  have  ever 
been  written. 

If,  then,  the  visible  manifestation  of  this  unity  be  in  itself  so 
desirable,  it  is  an  object  for  which  we  are  bound  to  make 
sacrifices.  We  should  sacrifice  to  it  our  love  of  sectarian 
aggrandizement,  our  desire  to  control  the  opinions  of  our 
brethren,  our  strife  for  ecclesiastical  power,  and  even,  if  it  be 
necessary,  the  good  opinion  of  the  members  of  our  own  sect. 
Christ,  and  the  members  of  his  spiritual  body,  should  be  dearer 
to  us  than  any  human  organization.  If  it  be  not  so,  where  is 
our  love  of  Christ  ?  And  if  it  be  asked,  How  far  shall  this 
sacrifice  be  carried  ?  I  answer,  Up  to  the  point  of  the  sacrifice 
of  principle.  We  cannot,  for  the  sake  of  unity,  do  wrong,  or 
be  the  parties  to  wrong-doing ;  we  cannot  declare  that  to  be 
true  which  we  believe  to  be  false  ;  or  perform,  as  an  ordinance 
of  Christ,  what  we  do  not  believe  that  Christ  has  commanded. 
When  this  limit  meets  us,  we  can  go  no  farther.  To  go  far- 
ther than  this,  would  be  to  surrender  up  a  conscience  void  of 
offence,  and  to  value  union  with  men  more  than  union  with 
Christ.  But  so  far  as  this  it  is  our  duty  to  go.  We  should 
testify  our  love  to  our  real  brethren  in  Christ,  by  uniting  with 
them  in  every  thing,  so  far  as  we  can  do  it  without  the 


THE    UNITY    OF    THE    CHURCH.  251 

surrender  of  truth  and  a  good  conscience.  When  this  limit 
has  been  reached,  we  must  separate ;  but  we  should  separate, 
not  in  unkindness,  but  in  mutual  love ;  cooperating  in  all 
things,  where  we  can  do  it  honestly ;  regretting  that  we  can- 
not cooperate  in  all,  and  always  "  keeping  the  unity  of  the 
spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace."  He  who  is  not  willing  to  do 
this,  has  much  yet  to  learn  of  the  spirit  of  Christ.  He  who  is 
willing  to  render  wider  the  apparent  breaches  which  already 
exist  between  the  various  persuasions  of  Christians,  and,  by 
magnifying  their  points  of  difference,  withdraw  them  farther 
and  farther  from  each  other,  is  wounding  Christ  in  the  house 
of  his  friends,  and  holding  up  the  church  of  Christ  to  the 
merited  reproach  of  a  thoughtless  and  gainsaying  world. 

And  if  it  be  demanded,  in  what  way  may  we  cultivate 
in  our  own  hearts,  and  make  manifest  to  others,  this  spirit  of 
universal  love  to  the  whole  body  of  Christ,  the  answer,  from 
what  has  been  already  said,  is  obvious.  We  cannot  do  it  by 
striving  to  convert  all  men  to  our  individual  opinions.  To  do 
this,  is  manifestly  impossible,  when  men  enjoy  freedom  of 
discussion  and  investigation.  Why  should  we  wish  to  do  it 
until  we  ourselves  become  omniscient  and  infallible?  Nor 
should  we  strive  to  bring  all  men  to  imitate  our  particular 
practice.  Differences  in  action  must  follow  from  the  neces- 
sary differences  of  opinion.  Why  should  we  judge  another 
man's  servant  ?  "  To  his  own  master  .he  standeth  or  falleth." 
After  faithfully  and  kindly  setting  forth  the  reasons  of  our 
belief  and  practice,  we  should  rest.  But  we  must  go  farther. 
Having  done  this,  we  must  still  strive  for  unity.  We  must  do 
this  by  cultivating  in  our  own  hearts  a  more  fervent  love  to 
Christ ;  and  just  in  proportion  to  our  love  to  him  will  be  our 
love  to  his  image,  as  it  is  displayed  in  the  members  of  his 
spiritual  body.  Overlooking  the  narrow  limits  of  sect  and 
party,  we  should  cultivate  a  spirit  of  universal  love  to  the 
whole  assembly  of  the  redeemed  of  every  age,  of  every  sect, 
and  of  every  variety  of  social  condition.  Wherever  the  spirit 
of  Christ  manifests  itself,  there  it  should  be  sure  of  our  sym- 


252  THE   UNITY    OF    THE    CHURCH. 

pathy.  Whenever  our  brethren  are  in  adversity,  we  should 
proffer  them  our  aid ;  whenever  they  are  in  prosperity,  we 
should  rejoice  in  their  success.  Wherever  they  are  laboring 
to  advance  the  interests  of  truth  and  righteousness,  we  should 
remember  them,  without  ceasing,  at  the  throne  of  grace,  and 
unite  our  efforts  with  theirs,  as  we  may  have  opportunity. 
It  is  thus  that  we  shall  bring  the  spirit  of  Heaven  down  upon 
earth,  and  it  shall  be  seen  that  God  is  in  the  midst  of  us  of  a 
truth.  Though  separated  in  matters  of  opinion,  as  must  be  the 
case  with  honest,  independent  men,  the  disciples  of  Christ  will 
still  be  one,  and  the  world  will  believe  that  he  is  the  Messiah 
sent  by  the  Father. 


THE    DUTY    OF   OBEDIENCE    TO    THE 
CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 


PART    I. 

"RENDER  THEREFORE  TJNTO  CAESAR  THE  THINGS  THAT  ARE  CAESAR'S, 
AND  UNTO  GOD  THE  THINGS  THAT  ARE  GOD'S." 

Matthew  xxii.  21. 

THIS  sentence  was  spoken  by  our  Lord  in  reply  to  a  ques- 
tion of  casuistry  presented  for  his  decision  by  the  Pharisees 
and  Herodians  of  Jerusalem.  It  teaches  us,  that  a  disciple  of 
Christ  is  under  a  moral  obligation  to  obey  the  civil  authority, 
but  that  there  are  limitations  within  which  that  obligation  is 
restricted.  I  propose  to  ascertain  the  meaning  of  the  passage, 
and  then  to  derive  from  it  such  instructions  as  may  be  appro- 
priate to  the  condition  of  a  Christian  citizen  at  the  present  day. 

At  the  time  when  the  conversation  was  held,  of  which  the 
text  forms  a  part,  Judea  was  a  Roman  province.  Its  king 
was  an  Idumean,  who  held  his  authority  under  the  Emperor 
Tiberius.  Every  important  city  through  the  Holy  Land  was 
gan-isoned  by  Roman  soldiery.  The  common  currency  of  the 
nation  was  Roman  coin.  The  law  which  transcended  every 
other  law,  and  to  which  every  citizen  had  the  right  to  appeal, 
was  Roman  law.  The  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob, 
was  worshipped  only  by  sufferance.  Every  thing  bore  testi- 
mony to  the  fact,  that  the  independence  of  the  kingdom  of 
David  had  passed  away,  and  that  Judea  lay  prostrate  at  the 
feet  of  the  mistress  of  the  world. 
22 


254  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  the  Pharisees  and 
Herodians,  waiving  for  the  present  their  differences  of  opinion, 
agreed  upon  a  question  to  be  submitted  to  our  Lord,  for  the 
sake  of  entangling  him  in  his  talk.  They  were  unable  to  con- 
ceive how  he  could  possibly  answer  it,  without  embroiling 
himself  either  with  the  people  or  the  government.  "  Master," 
said  they,  "  we  know  that  thou  art  true,  arid  teachest  the  way 
of  God  in  truth,  neither  carest  thou  for  any  man,  for  thou 
regardest  not  the  person  of  men.  Tell  us,  therefore,  what 
thinkest  thou  ?  Is  it  lawful  to  give  tribute  unto  Csesar,  or 
not?" 

The  question  thus  artfully  proposed,  was  intended,  I  pre- 
sume, to  suggest  some  such  considerations  as  the  following : 
This  land  -was  given  to  Abraham,  and  to  us  his  posterity,  for 
an  everlasting  possession.  The  family  of  David  was  selected 
by  the  Most  High  to  be  our  hereditary  rulers.  We  are  the 
worshippers  of  the  true  God,  while  all  other  nations  are  sense- 
less idolaters.  The  payment  of  tribute  is  an  acknowledgment 
of  submission  to  an  authority  which  we  believe  to  be  usurped. 
By  doing  it  we  profess  to  receive  as  magistrate,  and  reverence 
as  sovereign,  a  man  who  has  never  been  appointed  by  God  to 
govern  us;  nay,  more,  we  acknowledge  the  right  of  unclean 
idolaters  to  bear  rule  over  the  chosen  worshippers  of  Jehovah. 
Coming  to  Jesus,  —  as  a  teacher  sent  from  God,  a  personage 
incapable  of  being  swayed  by  the  fear  of  man,  who  in  a  matter 
of  right  would  look  unawed  upon  the  whole  power  of  the  Ro- 
man empire,  —  they  ask  him  what,  under  these  circumstances, 
they  shall  do.  Can  persons  of  as  tender  consciences  as  we, 
say  they,  pay  this  tribute  without  sin  ?  or  must  we  refuse,  and 
bring  upon  ourselves  all  the  consequences  of  resistance  to  the 
civil  authority  ? 

This  was  not  the  first,  nor  has  it  been  the  last  time  in  which 
the  rights  of  conscience  have  been  pleaded  as  an  excuse  for 
deliberate  wickedness.  All  this  our  Lord  knew  perfectly  well. 
The  question,  however,  in  itself,  was  one  of  grave  importance. 
Our  Lord  proceeded  to  answer  it  just  as  though  the  motive 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  255 

winch  prompted  it  had  been  ever  so  innocent.  He,  in  very 
few  words,  announces  the  rule  by  which  his  disciples  in  all 
ages  should  be  directed  in  their  relations  to  the  civil  govern- 
ment. Let  us  proceed  to  examine  this  rule. 

"  Show  me  a  penny,"  said  he.  "  Whose  image  and  super- 
scription hath  it  ?  "  That  is,  whom  doth  this  piece  of  money 
testify  to  be  the  actual  sovereign  of  this  country  ?  "  They 
say  unto  him,  Caesar's."  They  thus  acknowledge  that  their 
actual  sovereign  is  Caesar.  "  Render,  therefore,"  said  he, 
"  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the 
things  that  are  God's."  Caesar,  you  perceive,  is  here  put  for 
the  chief  magistrate  of  the  nation,  the  organ  of  civil  govern- 
ment, the  agent  of  civil  society.  The  precept  of  our  Lord 
then  is,  render  to  the  civil  government  whatever  is  due  to  the 
civil  government,  and  to  God  whatever  is  due  to  God.  And 
you  will  observe  that,  in  this  connection,  the  precept  to  ren- 
der unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's,  is  not  absolute,  but 
relative.  It  is  not  the  simple  command  to  worship,  revere, 
and  love  our  Father  who  is  in  heaven.  It  has  special  refer- 
ence to  the  case  in  which  there  may  seem  to  arise  a  collision 
between  these  two  duties.  Whenever  such  a  case  occurs, 
we,  as  beings  responsible  for  all  our  acts  to  God,  are  bound 
deliberately  to  consider  it.  We  are  to  determine  precisely 
what  belongs  to  the  civil  government,  and  then,  as  citizens 
and  as  Christians,  we  are  under  moral  obligation  to  render  it. 
But,  then,  in  this,  as  in  every  other  case,  we  are  bound  to 
consider  also  what  belongs  unto  God.  Nothing  must  either 
tempt  or  affright  us  from  obedience  to  him.  His  claim  over 
us  transcends  that  of  the  civil  magistrate.  We  ought  to  obey 
God,  rather  than  man.  And  we  may  be  confident,  that,  in 
obeying  him,  we  shall  never  violate  any  duty  which  we  owe 
to  the  magistracy,  for  if  the  magistracy  command  us  to  dis- 
obey God,  it  has  transcended  its  proper  powers,  its  commands 
ore  of  no  authority,  and  a  Christian  must  not  obey  them. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  our  Lord  intended 
to  direct  them  to  pay  the  tribute  money.  He  knew  that  they 


256  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

would  be  called  upon  for  it,  and  he  offers  no  reason  why  they 
should  not  pay  it.  But  he  goes  farther.  "  Show  me,"  said 
he,  "  the  tribute  money.  Whose  image  and  superscription 
hath  it  ?  They  say  unto  him,  Ccesar's."  Holding  it  up 
before  them,  or  pointing  to  it,  as  I  presume  he  did,  he  replies, 
"  Render  unto  Caesar  Ceesar's  things."  That  is  to  say,  this 
tribute  money,  on  which  his  image  is  engraved  and  his  name 
is  written,  belongs  to  Cresar,  and  to  him  let  it  be  paid.  Now, 
this  decision,  if  I  mistake  not,  throws  some  light  upon  another 
question,  which,  in  this  connection,  is  very  likely  to  be  raised. 
It  teaches  us  that  Christianity  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  forms 
of  human  government.  The  people  were  at  this  time  living 
under  an  absolute  monarchy.  The  reigning  sovereign  was  a 
tyrant  of  atrocious  wickedness.  And  yet  our  Lord  directs 
that  the  government  be  respected  and  the  tribute  paid.  He 
neither  inquires  into  the  title  of  Tiberius  to  the  throne  of  the 
empire,  nor  the  right  of  the  empire  to  rule  over  Judea.  He 
simply  asks, "  Whose  is  this  image  and  superscription  ?  "  that 
is,  what  is  the  government  actually  established  ?  and  he 
commands  them  to  render  to  that  government  its  due.  I  do 
not  say  that  Christianity  forbids  us  to  entertain  preferences  in 
regard  to  the  forms  of  government.  I  do  not  say  that  Chris- 
tianity does  not  create  a  tendency  to  free  institutions.  I  firmly 
believe  that  it  does.  Teaching  universal  equality  of  right,  it 
could  not  do  otherwise.  All  the  true  freedom  on  earth  springs 
essentially  from  the  gospel.  It  is  intended,  however,  to  im- 
prove the  condition  of  civil  society,  not  by  revolution  and 
bloodshed,  but  by  instilling  into  our  bosoms  a  spirit  of  piety 
towards  God,  and  of  justice  and  mercy  towards  men.  While 
Christianity  is  doing  this,  it  is  rendering  good  government 
necessary,  and  bad  government  impracticable.  In  the  mean 
time,  it  treats  every  existing  government  in  obedience  to  the 
precept  given  in  the  text.  The  civil  authority  is  established  ; 
the  image  is  stamped,  and  the  superscription  is  engraved. 
The  evidence  of  the  actual  existence  of  this  authority  is  in 
the  hands  of  every  man.  Its  precept  then  is,  Render  to 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  257 

society,  as  represented  by  the  magistracy  of  its  choice,  what- 
ever society  can  rightfully  claim.  Such  I  understand  to  be 
the  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ. 

This  is,  however,  only  a  part  of  our  Savior's  precept.  The 
remainder  is  at  least  equally  important.  "  Render  unto  God 
the  things  that  are  God's."  That  is,  Cccsar  may  claim  things 
which  belong  to  God,  and  these  must  never  be  rendered  to 
Caesar.  While  the  Lord  expressly  teaches  the  duty  of  obe- 
dience to  the  civil  magistrate,  he  forewarns  his  disciples  that 
cases  may  arise  in  which  such  obedience  would  be  treason 
against  God.  "  Thus,"  saith  he,  "  they  will  deliver  you  up  to 
the  councils,  and  will  scourge  you  in  the  synagogues,  and  you 
shall  be  brought  before  governors  and  kings  for  my  sake,  for 
a  testimony  against  them  and  the  Gentiles.  What  I  tell  you 
in  darkness,  that  speak  ye  in  the  light,  and  what  ye  hear  in 
the  car,  that  preach  ye  upon  the  house-tops.  And  fear  not 
them  that  kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul  ;  but 
rather  fear  Him  that  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in 
hell."  And  the  manner  in  which  the  apostles  understood 
this  commandment  of  our  Lord,  we  may  learn  very  clearly 
from  their  conduct  immediately  after  his  resurrection.  When 
Peter  and  John  were  forbidden  by  the  Sanhedrim  to  speak  at 
all  or  to  teach  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  they  answered,  "Whether 
it  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God  to  hearken  unto  you  more  than 
unto  God,  judge  ye  ;  for  we  cannot  but  speak  the  things  which 
we  have  seen  and  heard."  And  when  they  were  discharged 
from  arrest,  the  burden  of  their  prayer  was, "  And  now,  Lord, 
behold  their  threatenings,  and  grant  unto  thy  servants  that 
with  all  boldness  they  may  speak  thy  word."  A  few  days 
aftenvards,  they  were  again  arrested,  and  the  high  priest  asked 
them,  saying,  "  Did  we  not  strictly  command  you,  that  ye 
should  not  teach  in  this  name  ?  and  behold,  ye  have  filled 
Jerusalem  with  your  doctrine,  and  intend  to  bring  this  man's 
blood  upon  us."  *  To  this  accusation,  the  noble  reply  of  the 

*  They  had  arraigned  the  civil  magistrate  before  the  bar  of  Eternal 
Justice.  "  Him  ye  have  taken,  and  with  wicked  hands  have  crucified 
and  slain." 

22* 


258  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

apostle  was  merely  this  :  "  We  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than 
men ; "  and  he  forthwith  began  to  preach  to  the  high  priest 
himself  the  same  gospel  which  he  had  been  forbidden  to 
preach  among  the  people. 

Here,  then,  the  disciple  of  Christ  seems  to  be  furnished 
with  two  apparently  opposite  rules  of  conduct.  By  the  first 
he  is  commanded  to  obey  the  civil  magistrate,  without  asking 
many  of  the  questions  which  men  are  commonly  disposed  to 
ask  on  this  subject.  By  the  second,  he  is  commanded  to  pay 
no  respect  to  the  civil  magistrate  whatever,  but  to  act  just  as 
he  would  if  such  a  magistracy  did  not  exist.  How,  then,  are 
we  to  harmonize  these  two  apparently  conflicting  precepts  ? 
When  are  we  to  obey,  and  when  are  we  to  disobey  ? 

This  seeming  contradiction  can  only  be  explained  by  sup- 
posing that  the  authority  of  society,  and  of  government,  which 
is  its  agent,  is  a  limited  authority.  This  is  intimated  in  the 
words  of  the  text,  "  Render  unto  Csesar  the  things  which  are 
Casals ;  "  that  is,  there  are  certain  things  which  are  not 
Caesar's,  and  to  which  he  can  claim  no  right.  The  authority 
of  the  magistracy  is  conferred  for  definite  and  specified 
objects,  and  it  must  accomplish  these  objects  by  innocent 
means.  So  long  as  it  confines  itself  to  its  appropriate  objects, 
and  seeks  to  accomplish  them  by  innocent  means,  Jesus  Christ 
commands  us  to  yield  to  it  implicit  obedience.  When,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  undertakes  to  accomplish  objects  for  which  no 
authority  has  been  conferred  upon  it,  or  attempts  to  accom- 
plish them  by  means  which  Christ  has  forbidden,  the  gospel 
imposes  upon  us  no  obligation  to  obey  it ;  nay,  it  may  com- 
mand us  to  disobey  it. 

This  distinction  renders  it  necessary  for  us  to  inquire,  What 
are  the  legitimate  objects  for  the  accomplishment  of  which 
civil  government  is  established  ?  To  this  question  let  us 
briefly  direct  our  attention. 

The  great  object  for  which  civil  government  is  established 
among  men,  I  suppose  to  be,  to  protect  every  man  in  the 
enjoyment  of  those  rights  which  have  been  conferred  upon 
him  by  his  Creator. 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  2.59 

Every  man  is  conscious  that  he  is  an  independent  moral 
agent,  responsible  to  God  for  the  use  of  the  powers  with  which 
he  is  endowed,  and  at  liberty,  so  far  as  man  is  concerned,  to 
use  them  as  he  will,  provided  he  do  not  interfere  with  the  cor- 
respondent rights  of  his  neighbor.  The  muscles,  the  sinews, 
the  senses,  the  whole  body  of  a  man,  are  his  own  ;  and,  pro- 
vided he  use  them  without  injury  to  another,  he  may  use  them 
as  he  will.  He  has  a  perfect  right  to  the  natural  results  arising 
from  the  labor  of  his  body,  in  what  manner  soever  that  labor 
may  have  been  employed.  His  mind  is  his  own.  He  may 
acquire  with  it  such  knowledge  as  he  chooses,  and,  under  the 
limitation  above  suggested,  may  disseminate  that  knowledge  as 
he  pleases  among  his  fellow-men.  He  has  a  right  to  obey 
with  perfect  freedom  the  dictates  of  his  conscience,  that  is,  to 
worship  God  in  such  manner  as  he  pleases,  or  not  to  worship 
him  at  all.  The  worshipping  or  the  not  worshipping  cannot 
come  under  the  cognizance  of  the  civil  magistrate,  so  long  as 
the  man  refrains  from  infringement  upon  the  rights  of  his 
neighbor. 

But  it  is  found  that  men  are  not  naturally  disposed  to  obey 
these  obvious  dictates  of  justice.  Every  man  is  more  or  less 
disposed  to  appropriate  to  himself  the  property  or  labor  of 
another,  to  restrict  him  in  the  use  of  his  mind,  or  to  control  the 
exercise  of  his  conscience.  As  the  indulgence  of  these  dispo- 
sitions would  lead  to  universal  war,  society  is  ordained  by  God 
to  prevent  it.  Its  object  is  to  oblige  every  man  to  use  the 
means  of  happiness  which  God  has  conferred  upon  him,  in 
such  a  manner  that  he  shall  not  interfere  with  any  of  the  cor- 
respondent means  of  happiness  which  God  has  conferred  upon 
his  neighbor.  Though  every  man  might  be  willing  to  encroach 
upon  the  rights  of  his  brother,  no  man  is  willing  himself  to 
suffer  encroachment,  nor  is  he  willing  to  tolerate  encroach- 
ment in  another.  Hence  men  instinctively  unite  in  societies 
for  the  purpose  of  mutual  restraint.  They  naturally  place 
themselves  under  the  protection  of  society,  that  thus  the  rights 
of  the  individual  may  be  guarantied  to  him  by  the  combined 


260  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL,    MAGISTRATE. 

power  of  the  whole.  Every  man  turns  to  society  as  the 
umpire  whenever  he  believes  that  his  rights  have  been  invaded 
by  his  neighbor.  Society,  on  the  other  hand,  assumes  the 
office,  pronounces  the  award,  and  pledges  its  whole  power  to 
carry  it  into  execution. 

It  is  for  the  accomplishment  of  these  purposes  that  the 
various  forms  of  the  civil  magistracy  are  ordained.  The 
legislature  enacts  the  laws  ;  that  is,  it  declares  what  are  the 
rights  of  the  individual,  and  what  shall  be  the  penalty  if  they 
be  violated.  The  judiciary  ascertains  whether  or  not  a  law 
has  been  violated,  and  pronounces  the  sentence  which  the 
law  has  affixed  to  the  transgression.  The  executive  carries 
into  effect  the  decision  of  the  judiciary.  Here  the  great 
function  of  civil  society  ends.  This  is,  I  think,  the  view  of 
the  subject  entertained  by  the  authors  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  "  We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident ; 
that  all  men  are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by 
their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights  ;  that  among  these 
are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness ;  that  to  secure 
thest,  rights  governments  are  instituted  among  men.'1  Such, 
then,  is  the  paramount  object  for  which  the  magistracy  is 
appointed  of  God. 

I  have  said  that  civil  society  assumes  the  responsibility  of 
protecting  the  rights  of  the  individual.  Having  assumed  this 
duty,  it  is  under  obligation  to  discharge  it.  If  it  cannot  be 
discharged  without  the  use  of  force,  it  is  authorized  to  use 
force  to  the  extent  which  the  obligation  that  it  has  assumed 
renders  necessary.  In  order  to  prevent  wrong,  it  has  a  right 
to  summon  to  its  aid  the  assistance  of  every  citizen,  and  he  is 
bound  to  render  it.  Every  individual  is  a  member  of  that 
society  which  has  promised  to  secure  to  his  brother  the  enjoy- 
ment of  those  rights  bestowed  upon  him  by  his  Creator ;  and 
that  promise  every  man  is  under  moral  obligation  to  redeem. 

In  all  this,  I  think  I  have  but  enforced  the  doctrine  of  the  apos- 
tle Paul,  in  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  : 
"  Let  every  soul  be  subject  to  the  higher  powers ;  for  there 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  261 

is  no  power  but  of  God.  The  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of 
God.  Whosoever  therefore  resisteth  the  power,  resisteth  the 
ordinance  of  God ;  and  they  that  resist  shall  receive  to  them- 
selves damnation.  For  rulers  are  not  a  terror  to  good  works, 
but  to  the  evil.  Wilt  thou,  then,  not  be  afraid  of  the  power  ? 
Do  that  which  is  good,  and  thou  shalt  have  praise  of  the  same. 
For  he  is  a  minister  of  God  to  thee  for  good.  But  if  thou 
do  that  which  is  evil,  be  afraid  ;  for  he  beareth  not  the  sword 
in  vain  ;  for  he  is  the  minister  of  God,  a  revenger  to  execute 
wrath  upon  him  that  doeth  evil." 

But  we  may  carry  this  principle  a  single  step  farther.  I 
have  shown  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  society  to  protect  the 
individual  against  injury  from  another  member  of  the  same 
society.  But  suppose  that  he  is  exposed  to  injury  from  a 
member  of  another  society, —  is  he  not  entitled  to  the  same 
protection  ?  It  seems  to  me  that  he  is  ;  and  that  the  society  to 
which  he  belongs  is  bound  to  protect  him,  whether  he  be 
assailed  by  one  or  by  many.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  society  to 
which  he  belongs  to  restrain  him  from  inflicting  injury  upon  all 
other  men,  and  to  prevent  all  other  men  from  inflicting  injury 
upon  him.  Here,  however,  it  is  to  be  remarked,  that  the  use 
of  force  can  only  be  justified  when  employed  for  the  preven- 
tion of  injury,  when  directed  towards  the  injurious  person 
alone,  and  when  employed  to  no  greater  extent  than  the 
accomplishment  of  the  purpose  renders  necessary. 

But  besides  this,  the  great  object  for  which  civil  govern- 
ment is  established,  there  are  various  other  objects,  which,  for 
the  sake  of  convenience,  are,  by  common  consent,  committed 
to  its  care.  Thus,  for  instance,  it  is  found  that  common 
education  can  be  much  more  successfully  conducted  by  public 
than  by  private  effort.  The  care  of  highways,  of  harbors,  and 
many  of  the  most  important  aids  to  civilization,  are  most 
properly  left  to  the  same  agency.  Every  man  receives  the 
benefit  of  such  arrangements,  and  hence  every  man  may 
properly  be  obliged  to  bear  his  portion  of  the  burden. 

The  cost  of  conducting  all  these  departments  of  government 


262  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

must  be  defrayed  by  taxes,  or  some  other  form  of  imposition 
Our  share  of  this  cost  belongs  properly  to  Caesar,  and  a  Chris- 
tian is  bound,  by  the  principles  not  only  of  common  honesty, 
but  also  of  his  religion,  to  render  it  even -to  the  uttermost 
farthing.  The  blessings  of  a  good  government  are  absolutely 
incalculable.  Shall  any  man  ask  to  be  a  partaker  in  these 
blessings,  and  be  unwilling  to  pay  his  portion  of  that  expense 
by  which  they  are  procured  ?  Can  that  man  be  honest,  who 
would  send  his  children  to  a  public  school,  and  refuse  to  pay 
his  proportion  of  the  tax  for  the  support  of  education  ?  Can 
he  be  a  disciple  of  Christ  who  shrinks  from  bearing  his  part 
of  the  cost  of  repairing  a  road  which  he  uses  in  common  with 
his  neighbors,  or  of  lighting  a  public  lamp  of  which  he  enjoys 
with  them  an  equal  and  common  benefit  ? 

The  apostolic  precept  on  this  subject  is  clear  and  explicit. 
"  For  this  cause,"  (that  is,  for  conscience'  sake,)  "  pay  ye 
tribute  also,  for  they  are  God's  ministers,  attending  continually 
upon  this  very  thing.  Render,  therefore,  to  all  their  dues ; 
tribute  to  whom  tribute  is  due,  custom  to  whom  custom,  fear 
to  whom  fear,  honor  to  whom  honor." 

The  precept  of  our  Lord,  however,  goes  farther  than  this, 
and  teaches  us  that  a  Christian  is  not  to  limit  his  public  service 
to  the  strict  line  of  equity,  but  is  to  go  farther,  and  set  an 
example  of  enlarged  public  spirit.  It  encourages  us  to  do 
more  than  can  rightfully  be  demanded  of  us,  so  that  we  may 
by  example  cultivate  a  spirit  of  disinterested  zeal  for  the 
general  good.  The  precept  of  Jesus  Christ  is  this  :  "  If  a  man 
compel  thee  to  go  with  him  one  mile,  go  with  him  two."  The 
words  here  spoken  allude  to  compulsory  public  service.  In 
the  time  of  our  Lord,  the  public  despatches  were  carried  by 
officers  of  government,  who  had  the  power  to  compel  any 
citizen  to  leave  his  occupation  and  forward  them  on  their 
journey.  The  teaching  of  our  Lord  would  then  be  something 
like  the  following :  The  public  service  can  be  done  only  by 
the  assistance  of  every  citizen  in  his  turn.  In  all  such  cases, 
do  your  own  part  willingly.  But  be  not  content  with  this.  Be 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  263 

ready  and  willing  at  all  times  to  do  more  than  can  in  strictness 
be  required  of  you.  You  thus  set  an  example  of  voluntarily 
doing  good  to  the  public.  To  cultivate  this  spirit  is  to  lay 
deeply  and  securely  the  foundation  of  all  public  improvement. 
You  will  thus  render  it  evident  that  you  act,  not  for  yourselves, 
but  for  others ;  and  men,  seeing  your  good  works,  will  glorify 
your  Father  who  is  in  heaven. 

You  all  see  how  widely  extended  is  the  application,  and  how 
ennobling  is  the  practice,  of  this  precept.  Let  me  suggest  a 
few  cases  by  way  of  exemplification.  I  frequently  hear  Chris- 
tians, as  well  as  other  men,  excusing  themselves  from  serving 
as  jurors,  on  account  of  the  irksomeness  of  the  duty,  or  the 
pressure  of  their  private  avocations.  This  is  a  violation  of 
the  precept  of  the  text.  The  duty  belongs  unto  Cresar,  and  to 
Caesar  must  it  be  rendered.  We  must  bear  our  portion  of  this 
service,  or  we  disobey  Christ.  If  we  refuse  to  perform  it,  we 
are  guilty  of  injustiee  to  our  fellow-men.  If  our  property  or 
character  is  at  stake,  we  expect  them  to  do  their  part  in  pro- 
tecting us  from  wrong.  They  have  a  right  to  claim  that  we 
shall  perform  the  same  service  for  them.  It  is  an  act  of  very 
stupid  selfishness,  to  leave  the  most  important  judicial  duty  in 
the  hands  of  men  whose  time  is  utterly  valueless. 

For  the  same  reason  I  think  that  every  Christian  citizen  is 
under  obligation  to  vote  in  every  case  where  a  public  officer  is 
to  be  chosen.  The  happiness  and  virtue  of  the  community, 
no  less  than  the  security  of  property,  depend  greatly  on  the 
character  of  the  magistracy.  If  I  am  injured  in  person  or 
property  by  a  wicked  public  officer,  I  have  a  right  to  com- 
plain of  my  fellow-citizens  who  gave  him  authority  over  me, 
or  who,  when  it  was  in  their  power,  did  not  prevent  his  elec- 
tion. A  Christian,  in  this  country,  above  all  others,  has  a  duty 
to  perform  in  this  matter,  and  he  disobeys  the  commandment 
in  the  text  if  he  does  not  perform  it. 

The  same  principles  teach  us,  that  there  can  be  nothing 
more  diametrically  at  variance  with  the  precepts  of  the  gospel 
than  any  attempt  to  defraud  the  revenue.  He  who  does  this 


264  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

knowingly  and  wickedly,  disobeys  the  precept,  "  Render  unto 
Csesar  the  things  that  are  Csesar's."  Fie  withholds  from  the 
public  what  belongs  to  the  public.  He  receives  the  full  benefit 
of  protection,  and  refuses  to  pay  his  share  of  what  that  pro- 
tection costs.  Nay,  he  is  guilty  of  a  double  injustice.  He 
realizes  to  himself  an  exorbitant  profit,  the  wages  of  unright- 
eousness, while  he  is  able  to  undersell,  and,  it  may  be,  ruin 
his  honest  neighbor,  who,  in  an  upright  public  spirit,  is  obeying 
the  law  of  Christ.  I  need  scarcely  add,  that  overcharging  the 
public,  the  waste  of  public  property,  and  all  the  modes  by 
which  the  post-office  is  defrauded  of  its  due,  come  under  the 
same  condemnation. 

I  have  thus  endeavored  to  show  what  are  the  legitimate 
objects  of  civil  government,  and  what  are  the  duties  which 
the  ordaining  of  this  government  imposes  upon  a  disciple  of 
Christ.  It  is  proper,  however,  that  I  remark,  before  closing 
this  part  of  the  subject,  that  a  government,  in  carrying  forward 
these  objects,  is  ever  amenable,  like  an  individual,  to  the  law 
of  right.  The  goodness  of  the  end  will  never  justify  wicked- 
ness in  the  means.  Societies,  as  much  as  individuals,  are  bound 
to  yield  obedience  to  the  commands  of  God.  It  is  only  when 
the  objects  of  a  government  are  right,  and  the  means  by  which 
they  are  accomplished  are  innocent,  that  it  can  demand,  on  the 
principles  of  the  gospel,  the  aid  and  cooperation  of  the  disciple 
of  Christ.  Acting  in  obedience  to  these  principles,  the  magis- 
tracy may  claim  the  obedience  of  the  Christian  citizen,  not 
from  fear,  but  for  conscience'  sake,  and  from  the  love  which 
he  bears  to  the  Savior,  who  loved  him  and  gave  himself  for 
him. 


THE    DUTY    OF    OBEDIENCE    TO    THE 
CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 


PART   II. 

"RENDER  THEREFORE  UNTO  CJESAR  THE  THINGS  THAT  ARE  CAESAR'S, 
AND  TJNTO  GOD  THE  TIIINOS  TIIAT  ABE  GOD'S." 

Matthew  xxii.  21. 

IN  the  preceding  discourse,  I  have  endeavored  to  show  that 
every  disciple  of  Christ  is  under  imperative  obligations  to  obey 
the  civil  magistrate,  so  long  as  the  civil  magistrate  obeys  the 
social  and  moral  laws  by  virtue  of  which  his  office  has  been 
created.  While  the  magistracy  employs  itself  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice,  in  the  protection  of  innocence,  and  the  pun- 
ishment of  crime,  and  in  the  discharge  of  those  duties,  which, 
for  the  sake  of  convenience,  the  public  has  voluntarily  confided 
to  it,  Christ  commands  us  not  merely  to  yield  it  our  obedience, 
but  to  proffer  to  it  our  cheerful  and  disinterested  support.  We 
may  not  too  closely  scrutinize  the  extent  of  our  obligation  for 
the  selfish  purpose  of  ascertaining  how  little  we  may  do  and 
yet  escape  censure.  We  are  to  look  upon  civil  society  as  o'ne 
of  our  greatest  sublunary  blessings,  and  we  must  cherish,  and 
succor,  and  sustain  it,  not  from  wrath,  (the  fear  of  wrath,)  but 
for  conscience'  sake ;  not  because  physical  force  would,  if 
necessary,  compel  us,  but  because  we  thus  most  effectually 
subserve  the  interests  of  good  order  and  happiness,  of  virtue 
and  religion. 

So  much  as  this,  then,  the  gospel  commands,  in  respect  to 
23 


266  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

• 

our  obedience  to  civil  government.  Beyond  this  I  know  not 
that  it  utters  any  command  whatever.  The  acts,  therefore, 
the  laws,  the  requirements  of  civil  society,  like  the  acts,  the 
laws,  the  requirements  of  the  church,  or  of  any  other  society, 
are  amenable  to  the  tribunal  of  reason,  and  conscience,  and  the 
word  of  God.  The  Christian  is  at  liberty  to  inquire  whether 
any  act  of  the  government  transgresses  the  limit  within  which 
its  action  is,  by  reason  and  revelation,  restricted  ;  and  yet 
more,  to  determine,  concerning  eveiy  one  of  its  actions,  whether 
it  be  right  or  wrong.  At  liberty,  did  I  say  ?  He  is  more  than 
at  liberty,  —  he  is  obliged  thus  to  inquire  and  to  determine.  He 
is  a  party  to  every  act  of  the  society  of  which  he  is  a  member. 
He  is  an  intelligent  moral  agent,  responsible  to  God  for  his 
actions,  whether  they  be  personal  or  associated,  and  therefore 
he  must  think  about  civil  government,  and  act  about  it,  accord- 
ing to  the  light  which  God  has  given  him,  all  things  else  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding. 

I  therefore,  as  a  Christian  citizen,  look  upon  the  civil  gov- 
ernment and  the  civil  magistracy  with  as  unblenching  an  eye  as 
I  look  upon  any  thing  else.  In  simplicity  and  godly  sincerity, 
not  in  the  spirit  of  strife  or  partisanship,  I  may  pronounce  my 
opinion  upon  its  enactments  and  measures,  just  as  I  would 
express  my  opinions  in  any  other  case.  I  see  in  presidents, 
cabinets,  senators,  representatives,  and  all  the  array  of  the 
civil  magistracy,  nothing  but  men,  fallible  men,  of  like  passions 
with  myself.  Every  page  of  the'histoiy  of  the  past  has  shown 
that  men  placed  in  such  situations  have  been  exceedingly  prone 
to  err  and  to  do  wickedly.  I  cannot,  therefore,  worship  men 
in  power.  In  so  far  as  they  are  virtuous  men,  I  love  them.  In 
so  far  as  they  are  able  men,  I  respect  them.  In  so  far  as,  with 
an  honest  and  true  heart,  they  labor  to  discharge  the  solemn 
duties  to  which  they  have  been  appointed,  I  honor  and  I  ven- 
erate them.  I  will  pay  all  due  deference  to  the  offices  which 
they  hold,  and  will  bow  with  seemly  respect  to  the  men  who 
hold  them.  These  men  are  to  me  the  representatives  on  earth 
of  eternal  justice  and  unsullied  truth ;  and  may  my  arm  fall 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  267 

palsied  from  my  shoulder-blade  when  I  refuse  to  raise  it  in 
token  of  respect  to  him  who  is  called  of  God  to  minister  under 
so  solemn  a  responsibility. 

But  all  this  veneration  is  due,  not  to  the  man,  but  to  the 
magistrate ;  and  it  is  due  to  him,  therefore,  only  so  long  as  he 
confines  himself  to  the  duties  of  his  office,  and  discharges  them 
with  pure  and  patriotic  intentions.  I  have  a  right  to  inquire 
whether  his  actions  in  his  office  conform  to  the  principles  of 
justice.  He  must  claim  for  himself  no  immunity  from  scru- 
tiny on  account  of  the  dignity  of  his  station.  If  he  use  the 
power  committed  to  him  for  any  other  purpose  than  that  for 
which  it  was  committed ;  if  he  prostitute  his  official  influence 
to  pander  to  the  wishes  of  a  political  party ;  if  he  sacrifice  the 
gravest  interests  of  his  country  for  the  sake  of  securing  to 
himself  the  emoluments  of  office ;  if  he  trample  the  national 
honor  in  the  dust  in  order  to  minister  to  the  grasping  selfish- 
ness of  a  contemptible  clique,  —  that  moment  every  vestige  of 
his  sacredness  is  gone  forever.  He  stands  before  me  like 
Samson  from  the  lap  of  Delilah.  Shake  himself  as  he  may,  it 
matters  not  to  me,  —  his  strength  is  departed  from  him.  But 
this  is  not  all :  not  only  is  his  official  sacredness  departed,  —  he 
has  become  to  me  the  most  odious  of  despicable  men.  He  has 
sacrificed  his  country  to  his  lusts.  He  has  bartered  away  the 
well-being  of  millions  for  food  to  nourish  his  vices.  Whether 
in  office  or  out  of  it,  whether  powerful  or  powerless,  I  can  look 
upon  him  henceforth  with  no  other  feelings  than  those  of  pity 
and  disgust.  • 

But  this  may  become  a  yet  more  practical  matter.  The 
magistrate  may  not  only  do  wrong  himself,  but  he  may  com- 
mand me  to  do  wrong.  How  shall  I  regard  this  command  ?  I 
will  regard  it  as  I  do  any  other  command  to  do  wrong, —  I  will 
not  obey  it.  I  will  look  the  magistracy  calmly  and  respect- 
fully in  the  face,  and  declare  to  it  that  in  this  matter  I  owe  it 
no  allegiance.  I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  its  wrong-doing. 
I  will  separate  myself,  as  far  as  possible,  from  the  act  and  its 
consequences,  whether  they  be  prosperous  or  adverse.  It  is 


268  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

wickedness ;  it  has  the  curse  of  God  inwrought  into  it,  and  I 
•will  have  nothing  to  do  with  it.  From  the  beginning  to  the 
end,  I  will  eschew  it,  and  the  rewards  that  it  offers.  The 
magistracy  may  punish  me ;  I  cannot  help  that.  I  will  not 
resist,  but  I  will  not  do  wrong,  nor  will  I  be  a  party  to  wrong, 
let  the  magistracy  or  aught  else  command  me. 

In  saying  this,  I  hope  that  I  arrogate  to  myself  nothing  in 
the  least  peculiar.  I  am  only  in  the  plainest  and  simplest 
manner  stating  the  rights  and  obligations  of  an  intelligent 
moral  being,  accountable  to  God  for  his  actions,  and  bound  to 
reverence  his  Creator  above  all  else  in  the  universe.  Created 
under  such  a  responsibility,  can  I  transfer  the  allegiance  which 
I  owe  to  God,  to  legislative  assemblies,  to  political  caucuses, 
to  mass  meetings,  to  packed  or  unpacked  conventions  repre- 
senting or  pretending  to  represent  the  assumed  omnipotence 
of  public  opinion  ?  My  whole  moral  nature  with  loathing  for- 
bids it.  I  could  not  do  it  without  feeling  that  I  had  become  a 
despicable  slave.  I  could  not  do  it  without  knowing  that  I  had 
exchanged  the  glorious  and  incorruptible  God  for  an  image 
made  like  to  corruptible  man,  and  to  birds  and  four-footed 
beasts  and  creeping  things,  and  worshipped  the  creature  more 
than  the  Creator,  who  is  blessed  forever.  My  fellow-citizens 
must  not  ask  this  of  me  ;  I  will  surrender,  for  my  country,  my 
possessions,  my  labor,  my  life,  but  I  will  not  sacrifice  rny 
integrity  ;  and  that  is  unworthy  of  being  the  country  of  a  good 
man  which  shall  ask  it. 

But  here  it  seems  proper  that  I  illustrate  more  clearly  the 
nature  of  that  limit,  beyond  which  the  Christian  obligation  of 
obedience  to  the  magistrate  ceases.  I  proceed  to  offer  a  few 
suggestions  on  this  part  of  our  subject. 

I  have  said  that  the  great  end  for  which  civil  society  is 
established,  and  the  magistracy  appointed,  is,  to  secure  to  man 
the  enjoyment  of  those  rights  with  which  he  was  endowed 
by  his  Creator.  If  society  or  the  magistracy  interfere  with 
those  rights,  it  is  tyranny.  If  its  acts  transcend  the  limits  of 
the  authority  committed  to  it,  it  is  guilty  of  usurpation.  In 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  269 

neither  of  these  cases  does  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  com- 
mand us  to  render  to  it  obedience. 

The  civil  magistrate  has  frequently  persecuted  men  even 
unto  death  for  believing  .the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  Here  he 
not  only  does  not  secure  the  enjoyment  of  an  inalienable  right, 
—  he  goes  farther  and  actually  prohibits  it.  He  demands  of 
the  conscience  that  it  bow  down  to  him  rather  than  to  its  Maker. 
I  need  not  repeat  here  the  precepts  of  Christ  which  I  have 
already  quoted  in  reference  to  this  subject.  You  all  know 
that  we  are  commanded  under  such  circumstances,  on  the 
peril  of  our. souls,  to  pay  no  respect  to  the  precepts  of  the 
magistracy.  "  Fear  not,"  saith  our  Lord,  "  those  that  kill  the 
body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul,  but  rather  fear  Him  that 
is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  hell."  Here,  then,  is 
a  plain  case,  in  which  the  magistrate,  by  inhibiting  instead  of 
securing  the  rights  conferred  on  man  by  his  Creator,  has  for- 
feited his  claim  to  obedience ;  I  do  not  say  to  all  obedience, 
but  to  obedience  in  just  so  far  as  his  commands  interfere  with 
the  rights  of  man  or  the  commandments  of  God. 

The  magistrate  may  also  forfeit  his  claim  to  obedience  by 
usurpation,  that  is,  by  employing  his  official  power  for  other 
purposes  than  those  for  which  it  was  committed  to  him.  One 
of  the  most  common  instances  of  this  form  of  wrong  is  found 
in  the  case  of  war.  To  this  case  let  us  direct  our  attention. 

1  have  already  remarked  that  the  supreme  power  is  con- 
ferred on  the  magistracy  for  the  purpose  of  securing  to  every 
individual  the  rights  conferred  on  him  by  the  Creator.  I  have 
also  said  that  in  the  exercise  of  this  power  the  magistracy  may 
defend  the  individual  against  wrong,  whether  it  be  offered  by 
its  own  citizens  or  by  strangers.  It  may,  consistently  with 
this  principle,  use  force  in  order  to  extend  its  protection  to 
innocence,  if  it  can  accomplish  this  purpose  by  no  other 
means.  But,  while  all  this  is  admitted,  we  are  carefully  to 
observe  the  limitations  with  which  this  admission  is  guarded. 

The  object  for  which  this  power  is  conferred  is,  to  secure  to 
the  citizen  the  enjoyment  of  his  rights.  Hence,  for  no  other 


270  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

object  can  the  resort  to  force,  on  Christian  principles,  be  justi- 
fied. The  only  persons  whom  this  object  regards  are  the  evil- 
doers themselves ;  hence,  against  no  others  can  force  be  directed. 
The  object  being  the  protection  of  rights,  as  soon  as  this  object 
is  accomplished,  the  reason  for  the  employment  of  force  ceases. 
Such  are,  I  think,  the  limits  within  which  the  employment  of 
force  by  a  government  is,  by  the  Christian  religion  and  the 
principles  of  civil  society,  manifestly  restricted. 

Thus,  suppose  that  a  company  of  men  should  land  upon  our 
shores,  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  our  property,  or  pillaging 
our  houses,  or  murdering  our  brethren.  We  and  our  fellow- 
citizens  have  mutually  promised  to  protect  each  other  in  the 
enjoyment  of  our  rights.  We  are,  therefore,  bound  to  protect 
them.  We  may  rightfully  unite  together,  and,  if  it  be  neces- 
sary, repel  the  wrong-doers  by  force  of  arms.  But,  in  this 
case,  our  object  recognizes  no  other  persons  than  the  wrong- 
doers therilselves.  Their  wives,  their  children,  their  innocent 
fellow-citizens,  have  done  us  no  harm,  and  we  have  no  author- 
ity to  inflict  injury  upon  them.  If  it  be  said  that  in  perpetrat- 
ing wrong  they  only  obey  the  commands  of  their  government, 
I  reply,  they  are  moral  and  accountable  men,  and  have  no 
right  to  obey  a  wicked  command.  All  that  is  necessary  in 
order  to  protect  our  rights  is,  to  repel  the  invader ;  and  hence 
our  object  allows  us  to  employ  force  to  no  greater  extent  than 
is  demanded  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  object. 

Again  :  as  soon  as  our  object  is  accomplished,  and  our  rights 
are  no  longer  endangered,  all  reason  for  contention  ceases. 
We  wish  the  wrong-doer  no  harm.  We  have  no  desire  of 
vengeance  to  gratify.  Our  object  is  not  to  harm  him,  but 
only  to  protect  ourselves.  He  is  still  our  brother,  though 
he  has  intended  evil  against  us.  This  danger  being  now 
averted,  we  will  again  treat  him  as  a  brother,  and  overcome 
evil  by  good.  We  will  turn  his  enmity  to  friendship,  and  thus 
all  strife  between  us  must  by  necessity  forever  cease. 

Again :  it  is,  I  think,  evident  that  our  rights  are  of  very 
different  degrees  of  importance,  and  therefore  justify  very 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  271 

dissimilar  efforts  to  enforce  them.  The  right  to  life  and  liberty 
is  very  unlike  our  right  to  property.  The  invasion  of  the  one 
would  authorize  us  to  use  means  of  redress,  which  could  not 
be  authorized  by  the  invasion  of  the  other.  I  may  have  the 
right  to  repel  a  murderer  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  but  this  by 
no  means  would  justify  me  in  slaying  a  man,  because  he  owed 
me  a  dollar,  or  entering  his  house  by  force  of 'arms  and  seizing 
upon  his  property  at  the  risk  of  the  destruction  of  his  family. 
We  arc  reasonable,  accountable,  and  sinful  men.  It  becomes 
us,  who  owe  a  thousand  talents,  not  to  press  too  eagerly  the 
payment  of  a  hundred  pence.  There  is,  in  our  circumstances, 
much  that  persuades  to  forbearance  and  charity,  both  as  indi- 
viduals and  as  members  of  a  community.  It  is  surely  better 
to  suffer  loss  than  to  reclaim  our  property  at  the  sacrifice  of 
that  which  is  of  infinitely  higher  value.  This  principle  of  con- 
•  duct  must  certainly  approve  itself  to  every  virtuous  man. 

Were  this  principle  universally  adopted,  wars  would  very 
soon  cease  altogether.  National  force  would  never  be  em- 
ployed except  for  the  sake  of  protecting  the  citizen  from 
injury.  In  no  greater  degree  than  was  necessary  for  the 
accomplishment  of  this  object  would  force  be  employed.  No 
one  but  the  wrong-doer  would  suffer,  and  as  soon  as  his  wrong- 
doing terminated,  the  employment  of  force  would  cease. 
These  "principles  of  action  restrict  the  infliction  of  pain  within 
the  smallest  possible  limits,  and  thus  they  are  in  harmony  with 
the  attributes  of  a  just  and  all-merciful  God. 
^But,  in  granting  this,  do  we  admit  the  innocence  of  war,  as 
it  is  at  present  carried  on  between  nations  ?  The  two  concep- 
tions scarcely  resemble  each  other  in  any  single  respect,  except 
that  in  both  cases  physical  force  is  employed.  The  sheriff 
who  arrests  a  criminal,  and  the  highwayman  who  robs  a  trav- 
eller, both  employ  physical  force  to  accomplish  their  object;  yet 
wo  should  hardly  designate  their  acts  by  the  same  term.  The 
one  is  a  righteous  and  the  other  an  unrighteous  employment 
of  force,  and  to  concede  the  necessity  of  one,  is  by  no  means 
to  admit  the  rectitude  of  the  other.  A  declaration  of  war 


272  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

not  only  authorizes  us  to  repel  an  invader,  but  it  abolishes  all 
the  relations  of  peace  between  two  whole  nations,  and  substi- 
tutes in  their  place  the  relations  of  enmity  unto  death.  It 
henceforth  becomes  the  duty  of  our  national  force  to  destroy 
the  lives  and  the  property  of  our  brethren  whom  we  declare 
to  be  our*  enemies,  to  any  extent  that  the  prosecution  of  the 
war  may  render  expedient.  The  more  universal  the  slaughter, 
and  the  more  terrific  the  destruction  of  property,  the  greater 
is  the  glory  which  we  ascribe  to  the  transaction.  Innocent 
and  guilty,  combatants  and  non-combatants,  men,  women  and 
children,  are  mingled  in  one  common  calamity,  and  our  most 
gratifying  success  is  that,  in  which,  with  the  smallest  loss  to 
ourselves,  we  inflict  the  greatest  misery  upon  our  brethren. 
Can  the  right  of  self-protection,  any  more  than  the  precepts  of 
the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  ever  justify  atrocities  such  as  these  ? 

But  this  is  only  a  part.  The  very  declaration  of  war  ex-- 
poses  us  to  all  the  calamities  which  we  would  inflict  upon 
others.  For  this  result  we  ourselves  must  be  prepared.  Every 
individual  becomes  in  effect  a  soldier,  liable  at  any  moment 
to  be  led  into  battle.  Military  law  supersedes  all  other  law, 
whenever  they  come  into  collision.  We,  in  fact,  become  par- 
ties in  a  war,  and  we  must  suffer  the  evils  of  the  condition 
which  we  have  chosen.  We  desire  to  inflict  misery  to  the 
greatest  extent  upon  our  enemy,  and  we  must  prepare  our- 
selves to  receive  at  his  hands  whatever  misery  he  can  inflict 
upon  us.  Can  any  one  believe  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
not  perceive  that  all  this  must  be  atrocious  wickedness  ?  ^ 

To  illustrate  this  subject,  let  us  suppose  a  case,  which  is  not 
by  any  means  without  a  parallel.  A  few  months  since,  and 
we  were  at  peace  with  all  the  world.  We  wished  evil  to  none 
of  our  brethren  of  the  human  race,  and  none  of  them  wished 
evil  to  us.  Our  property,  wherever  it  might  wander  for  the 
purposes  of  commerce,  was  every  where  protected  by  the  arm 
of  peaceful  and  universal  law.  On  the  other  hand,  the  prop- 
erty and  the  lives  of  all  our  brethren  of  the  human  race  were 
as  safe  under  the  guardianship  of  our  constitution  as  under  that 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  273 

of  their  own.  Evciy  good  citizen  felt  it  to  be  a  point  of  honor 
to  respect  the  rights  of  his  neighbor,  though  lie  were  separated 
from  us  by  the  diameter  of  the  globe. 

Suppose,  now,  that  war  were  declared  by  this  nation  against 
Great  Britain,  and  all  these  conditions  would  be,  by  a  single 
word,  reversed.  The  property  of  both  parties  ceases  to  be 
under  the  protection  of  international  law.  Each  nation  sweeps 
the  ocean  with  its  fleets,  and  each  confiscates,  and  destroys  by 
hundreds  of  millions,  the  property  of  the  other.  We  exult  in 
the  misery  which  we  inflict  upon  our  correspondents,  our 
friends,  our  relatives,  and  derive  pleasure  from  the  perpetration 
of  indiscriminate  slaughter.  We  send  fleets  and  armies  to 
devastate  their  coasts.  We  subject  Liverpool  to  bombardment, 
and  destroy  its  unoffending  inhabitants  by  thousands ;  we  ad- 
vance to  Manchester,  and  put  to  the  sword  every  citizen  who 
defends  his  home  from  our  ravages,  and  prosecute  the  work  of 
destruction  until  resistance  ceases,  or  we  ourselves  are  over- 
powered. The  greater  our  skill  in  the  work  of  desolation,  and 
the  greater  the  number  of  human  beings  whom  we  can  slaugh- 
ter, the  greater  is  our  glory ;  and  at  every  report  of  wholesale 
murder,  there  arises  from  a  hundred  cities  the  peal  of  national 
exultation.  But  the  work  of  death  is  not  confined  to  one  of 
the  parties.  The  forces  of  Great  Britain  are  landed  at  Boston. 
That  beautiful  city  is  reduced  to  a  heap  of  ruins.  Young  and 
old,  innocent  and  guilty,  parents  and  children,  are  involved  in 
one  common  desolation.  An  army,  flushed  with  conquest  and 
maddened  by  resistance,  pursues  its  course  to  New  York,  and 
uicre,  on  a  larger  scale,  a  similar  scene  is  enacted.  Shells  and 
shot  do  the  work  of  death,  until  resistance  ceases,  and  the  city 
is  surrendered  up  to  the  lusts  of  a  brutal  soldiery.  And  as  the 
army  moves  in  its  gigantic  force  over  our  country,  sweeping 
before  it  our  flying  and  terrified  people,  destroying  in  its  course 
whatever  could  be  used  for  the  purposes  of  defence,  and  con- 
signing to  instant  death  every  man  who  defends  himself  or 
his  property  from  aggression,  each  successive  slaughter  is 
chronicled  by  Englishmen  as  a  victory ;  the  leaders  in  this 


274  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

desolation  are  crowned  with  honors,  and  the  cities  in  Great 
Britain  blaze  with  illumination  as  they  hear  that  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  us  their  brethren  are  slain,  that  our  hearths  are 
steeped  in  blood,  that  our  wives  are  widows,  and  our  children 
fatherless. 

Were  the  calamities  which  nations  inflict  upon  each  other 
in  war  to  result  from  the  agency  of  Divine  Providence,  what 
would  be  the  feelings  with  which  we  should  contemplate  them  ? 
Suppose  that  an  earthquake  should  work  the  destruction  which 
we  accomplish  by  a  bombardment ;  that  a  tempest  should  sink 
our  merchant  ships,  instead  of  a  hostile  fleet ;  that  a  hurricane, 
instead  of  an  army,  should  sweep  over  the  land,  scattering  des- 
olation in  its  path,  and  covering  field  after  field  with  the  thou- 
sands of  the  slain ;  what  would  be  the  moral  sentiments  with 
which  we  should  contemplate  such  a  succession  of  disasters  ? 
The  whole  land  would  stand  aghast  at  this  strange  work  of  the 
A.lmighty.  The  infidel  would  construct  from  it  an  argument 
to  prove  that  a  just  Being  could  never  have  involved  the  inno- 
cent and  the  guilty  in  so  frightful  a  common  calamity ;  and 
the  ministers  of  religion  would  be  called  upon,  Sabbath  after 
Sabbath,  to  silence  the  rebellion  of  the  human  heart,  "  to  assert 
eternal  providence  and  justify  the  ways  of  God  to  man." 
And  can  any  thing  be  more  atrocious  than  for  us  to  work  out  a 
destruction  so  universal  and  so  indiscriminate  that  natural  con- 
science is  staggered  while  she  allows  that  the  Eternal  has  the 
authority  to  inflict  it  ?  Can  the  right  of  self-defence  ever  justify 
atrocity  such  as  this?  Did  we  ever  concede  to  governmenj 
the  right  to  perpetrate  so  measureless  a  crime  ?  It  is  in  vain  to 
say  that,  in  giving  to  the  magistracy  the  power  to  protect  our 
citizens,  all  this  power  is  also  surrendered.  That  power  was 
granted  for  a  given  purpose,  and  for  no  other,  and  it  was  limited 
within  correspondent  restrictions.  The  magistrate  is  clothed 
with  the  power  of  life  and  death,  so  that  he  may  defend  us 
against  injury  from  each  other ;  but  this  by  no  means  confers 
upon  him  the  right  to  cut  us  off  at  his  pleasure  by  indiscrimi- 
nate slaughter.  He  is  authorized  to  use  the  national  force,  in 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  275 

• 

order  to  defend  us  from  external  injury  ;  but  this  confers  upon 
him  no  authority  to  use  that  force  for  the  purpose  of  conquest. 
The  guilt  of  such  an  abuse  of  power  is  enormous,  when  war  is 
provoked  by  the  infliction  of  aggravated  injury ;  but  how 
greatly  is  this  guilt  increased  when  it  is  waged  for  insufficient 
cause,  and  yet  more  in  the  perpetration  of  atrocious  wrong ! 

War  has  nevertheless  been  frequently  carried  on  for  the  pur- 
pose of  extending  religious  sentiments  or  political  institutions. 
Wars  for  the  sake  of  what  is  called  religion,  have  in  former 
times  been  frequent.  Of  late,  millions  of  men  have  been  slain 
in  the  contest  between  monarchy  and  republicanism.  Such 
was  the  character  of  the  wars  of  the  French  revolution.  Still 
later,  it  has  been  urged  that  a  war  may  be  waged  by  one  nation 
upon  another  in  order  to  enlarge  the  area  of  freedom,  and  it 
has  also  been  pleaded  that  freedom  may  most  successfully  be 
extended  by  enlarging  the  domain  of  slavery. 

It  is  obvious  that  every  one  of  these  reasons  carries  the  mark 
of  reprobation  deeply  branded  upon  its  front.  We, have  no 
right  to  interfere  either  by  force  or  by  intrigue  with  the  religious 
sentiments  or  political  institutions  of  another  nation.  If  we 
possess  this  right,  every  other  nation  possesses,  and  may  exer- 
cise it  as  freely  as  ourselves.  The  result  of  such  an  admission 
would  be  to  declare  the  innocence  of  universal  war,  and  to 
assert  the  right  of  murdering  any  man  who  does  not  think  as 
we  do.  I  ask,  Is  not  this  something  very  different  from  the 
right  of  self-defence  ? 

Again :  wars  are  sometimes  waged  for  the  sake  of  con- 
quest. The  soil  of  a  neighboring  nation  is  rich,  or  her 
harbors  are  commodious,  and  our  power  may  be  increased 
by  adding  them  to  our  possessions.  If  we  are  the  stronger 
party,  we  can  generally  find  pretexts  to  cover  our  all-grasping 
eovetousness ;  and  if  all  other  reasons  fail,  we  may  always 
plead  our  irresistible  destiny,  and  thus  cast  the  blame  of  our 
wickedness  upon  the  perfections  of  the  Most  High.  But  can 
such  a  transaction,  though  it  could  be  perfected  without  blood- 
shed, be  designated  by  any  other  name  than  robbery  ?  and  is 


276  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

• 

there  any  more  predestination  about  robbery  than  about  any 
other  crime  ?  Does  our  desire  for  our  neighbor's  possessions 
give  us  any  right  to  our  neighbor's  possessions  ?  If  desire 
confer  right,  it  confers  it  upon  all  nations,  and  to  admit  this 
would  be  to  admit  the  right  of  universal  destruction.  What 
shall  we  say,  then,  when  this  iniquitous  passion  for  territory 
is  gratified  at  the  expense  of  indiscriminate  slaughter  ?  Can 
we  conceive  of  a  more  diabolical  wickedness,  than  a  war 
waged  in  the  cause  of  national  robbery  ? 

But  I  go  farther :  I  ask,  Was  the  power  of  waging  such  a 
war,  and  for  such  purposes,  ever  intended  to  be  conferred 
upon  a  government  ?  Can  it  ever  be  conferred  ?  Can  man, 
under  any  circumstances,  authorize  his  brother  to  do  wicked- 
ness ?  Can  any  man  offer  the  authority  of  his  fellow-man  in 
justification  of  wrong-doing  ?  But  I  ask  again,  Was  such 
authority  ever  given  ?  I  know  that  people  have  frequently 
conferred  upon  governments  the  power  to  declare  and  to 
carry  on  war.  But  did  a  people  ever  confer  on  a  govern- 
ment the  authority  to  carry  on  a  war  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
tending religious  belief,  or  of  establishing  political  institutions, 
or  of  increasing  territorial  dominion  ?  Have  we  ever  con- 
ferred this  power  upon  our  government  ?  If,  when  our  con- 
stitution- was  framed,  this  power  had  been  asked  for,  would  it 
ever  have  been  granted  ?  To  these  questions  I  apprehend 
but  one  answer  can  be  returned  by  any  thoughtful  man. 

I  think,  then,  it  must  be  evident  that  the  right  of  self- 
defence  in  no  manner  involves  the  right  to  wage  war  as  it  is 
commonly  waged  between  nations.  The  objects  pursued  in 
the  two  cases  are  entirely  unlike,  and  the  means  of  attaining 
them  are  widely  dissimilar.  For  the  accomplishment  of  one 
object,  authority  may  be  granted,  but  it  cannot  rightfully  be 
granted  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  other.  The  well-being 
of  society  may  require  that  in  the  one  case  this  power  be 
conferred  upon  the  magistrate,  while  to  concede  it  in  the 
other  would  be  to  consign  the  race  of  man  to  universal  and 
interminable  war.  The  principles  of  the  gospel  may  permit 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  277 

us  to  defend  our  fellow-citizens  from  injury,  but  we  cannot 
inflict  injury  upon  others  without  bringing  down  upon  our- 
selves the  judgments  of  a  God  who  judges  righteously. 

In  the  previous  discourse  I  endeavored  to  illustrate  the 
object  for  which  civil  government  was  established,  and  to 
enforce  the  duty  of  cheerful  obedience  to  it  so  long  as  its 
action  was  limited  to  the  accomplishment  of  its  legitimate 
object.  In  the  present  discourse  I  have  attempted  to  show 
that  a  government  may  use  unlawfully  the  power  with  which 
it  is  intrusted  ;  that  it  may  assume  a  power  which  neither 
social  principles  nor  the  written  constitution  ever  conceded 
to  it,  and  that  it  may,  in  doing  this,  also  commit  an  act  of 
atrocious  wickedness.  The  question  then  arises,  What  is  the 
course  of  conduct  which  the  precepts  of  Jesus  Christ  pre- 
scribe for  the  citizen  ?  To  this  part  of  the  subject  I  propose 
to  direct  your  attention  in  the  following  discourse. 
24 


THE    DUTY    OF    OBEDIENCE    TO    THE 
CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 


PART    III. 

• 

"  RENDER  THEREFORE  UNTO  C^SAR  THE  THINGS  THAT  ARE  CJESAR'S, 
AND  UNTO  GOD  THE  THINGS  THAT  ARE  GOD'S." 

Matthew  xxii.  21. 

THE  question  to  be  considered  in  this  discourse  is  this  : 
What  is  the  duty  of  a  Christian  citizen,  when  he  believes 
that  the  government  of  his  country  is  engaged  in  the  per- 
petration of  wickedness  ? 

I  suppose  that  I  need  not  here  refer  to  the  fact  that  a  dis- 
ciple of  Christ  acknowledges  the  law  of  God  to  be  of  infi- 
nitely higher  authority  than  the  command  of  man.  And 
when  I  say  man,  I  use  the  term  generically.  I  do  not  mean 
a  single  man,  but  man  under  what  forms  of  combination 
soever  he  may  be  associated.  Ecclesiastical  societies,  civil 
societies,  political  parties,  combinations  for  the  purpose  of 
amassing  wealth  or  consolidating  power,  ut'ter  nothing  but 
the  voice  of  man,  weak,  selfish,  depraved,  and  erring  man ; 
and  man  weaker,  more  selfish,  more  depraved,  and  more 
liable  to  err,  in  consequence  of  the  combination  which  blends 
the  individuals  too  frequently  into  one  soulless  and  unprin- 
cipled mass.  It  has  been  said,  with  too  much  practical  truth, 
.that  corporate  bodies  have  no  conscience.  Judge  ye,  then, 
how  debasing  must  be  the  idolatry  which  obeys  the  commands 
of  such  an  association,  in  defiance  of  the  commands  of  God 
our  Father  Almighty  ! 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  279 

In  order  to  present  this  subject  in  a  form  as  intelligible  as 
possible,  I  will  commence  our  discussion  by  stating  a  few 
propositions  which  I  suppose  must  lie  at  the  foundation  of  a 
correct  decision  in  regard  to  it. 

1.  It  cannot,  I  think,  be  doubted  that  societies  of*  all  kinds 
are  as  liable  to  do  wrong  as  the  individuals  of  which  they  are 
composed.     Merchants  in  partnership  are  as  much  exposed  to 
the  temptations  of  dishonesty  as  individual  merchants.    Incor- 
porated companies,  banks,  joint  stock  companies,  men  asso- 
ciated for  the  promotion  of  any  object  whatever,  have  never, 
that  I  know  of,  been  considered  immaculate.     The  same  is 
true  of  nations.     We,  at  least,  have   always  believed  that 
Great  Britain  was  guilty  of  grievous  wrong  in  her  treatment 
of  us  when  we  were  her  colonies.     She  must  have  been  thus 
guilty  unless  our  Declaration  of  Independence  is  a  falsity. 
It  is,  I  suppose,  universally  conceded,  that  France  exhibited 
a  scene  of  atrocious  wickedness  during  the  period  of  her 
revolution,  and  throughout  all   the  wars  which  commenced 
with  and  which  succeeded  it.     I  think  that  no  one,  acquainted 
with  the  facts  in  the  case,  can  deny  that  our  government  has 
been  guilty  of  grievous  wrong  in  its  treatment  of  many  of 
the  tribes  of  Indians  on  our  western  frontier,  and  especially 
in  the  removal  by  force  of  the  Cherokee  nation  from  their 
ancient  homes  and  the  burial-places  of  their  fathers. 

2.  I  think  it  must  be  admitted  that  every  member  of  a 
society  is  morally  responsible  for  the  wrongs  committed  by 
that  society,  unless  he  has  used  all  the  innocent  means  in  his 
power  to  prevent  them.     Unless  he  have  done  this,  he  is  a 
partaker  in  the  wrong.     It  will  constitute  no  valid  excuse  for 
him  to  plead  that  he  was  not  the  actual  doer  of  the  wrong, 
and  that  it  was  done  by  his  agent.     He  who  appoints  an  agent 
is,  by  every  principle  of  law  and  of  equity,  responsible  for 
his  acts.     Nor  can  we  even  plead  in  extenuation,  that  we,  as* 
members  of  the  society,  took   no  active  part  in  the  appoint- 
ment and  direction  of  the  agent.     The  wrong  is  done,  and 
the  wrong  might  have  been  prevented  by  the  exercise  of 


280  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

precisely  such  power  as  has  been  placed  in  our  hands.  Unless 
we  have  exerted  that  power  for  the  prevention  of  wrong,  whicn 
others  have  exerted  in  causing  it  to  be  committed,  we  are,  on 
every  principle  of  right  reason,  responsible  for  the  act,  and  are 
partakers  of  the  guilt. 

This  is  the  only  rule,  so  far  as  I  know,  by  which  we  esti- 
mate moral  responsibility  in  all  cases  of  association.  If  several 
men  are  united  in  a  copartnership,  we  hold  every  one  of  them 
responsible  for  the  acts  of  the  firm,  not  only  legally,  but,  under 
the  conditions  which  I  have  specified,  morally  also.  If  one 
partner  commit  no  act  of  dishonesty  with  his  own  hands,  yet 
if  he  be  cognizant  of  the  dishonest  acts  of  his  associates,  if  he 
allow  them  to  use  his  capital  and  then  share  with  them  the 
gains  of  wickedness,  he  is  manifestly  as  guilty  as  they.  Al- 
though he  never  told  his  clerk  to  defraud,  yet  if  he  see  his 
clerk  defraud  at  the  command  of  his  partners,  and  never  put  a 
stop  to  the  villany,  is  he  not  as  thorough  a  sharper  as  any  one 
of  his  companions  ? 

Such  are  the  judgments  which  we  invariably  form  in  respect 
to  the  acts  of  a  private  association.  Precisely  the  same  prin- 
ciples guide  our  judgments  respecting  the  obligations  of  a  polit- 

r  ical  society.  A  people  is  always  held  responsible  for  the  acts 
of  its  government,  be  the  form  of  that  government  what  it 
may.  No  nation  has  ever  maintained  this  doctrine  more  stren- 
uously than  ourselves.  We  have  demanded  restitution  for 
wrongs  inflicted  under  the  government  of  a  usurper,  or  even 
under  the  temporary  subjection  of  a  nation  to  a  foreign  power. 
But  if  this  be  the  law  of  national  responsibility,  it  is  manifest 
that  it  applies  to  us  with  greater  stringency  than  to  any  other 
people  on  earth.  We  exercise,  in  its  widest  extent,  the  right  to 
elect  our  own  rulers.  We  elect  them  for  short  periods.  We 
demand  a  full  knowledge  of  all  their  public  acts,  and  of  the 

^reasons  which  have  led  to  all  their  decisions.  We  remove 
them  whenever  their  acts  displease  us.  We  thus  employ  them 
as  our  agents.  We  claim  to  be  principals,  and  we  must  by 
consequence  assume  all  the  responsibility  of  principals.  We 


OBEDIENCE    TO   THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  281 

* 

thus  forever  shut  ourselves  out  from  the  plea  that  we  are  not 
answerable  for  the  acts  of  our  rulers.  No  American  citizen 
can  ever  offer  this  plea  unless  he  has  employed  h%  constitu- 
tional power  to-  its  full  extent  for  the  prevention  of  national 
wrong-doing. 

Let  us  suppose,  for  instance,  that  the  legislature  of  a  state 
borrows  money  for  the  purpose  of  constructing  works  of  inter- 
nal improvement.  The  question  of  effecting  this  loan  was 
publicly  discussed.  It  was  believed  to  be  a  measure  of  great 
public  utility.  No  citizen  objected  to  it.  The  funds  are 
received  and  appropriated,  and  the  faith  of  the  state  is  pledged 
for  their  redemption.  The  undertaking  proves  disastrous,  or 
the  loan  is  squandered  by  unfaithful  agents.  The  enterprise 
becomes  unpopular.  The  legislature  refuses  to  pay  it,  and  the 
people  sustain  their  refusal  by  declaring  that  they  will  not  be 
taxed  to  redeem  their  bonds.  Can  there  be  a  doubt  that  the 
citizen  who  suffers  this  wrong  to  be  done,  without  uttering  his 
solemn  remonstrance,  is  a  partaker  in  the  guilt  of  the  dis- 
honesty ?  Can  any  man,  under  such  circumstances,  be  inno- 
cent, unless  he  not  only  is  willing  to  pay  his  portion  of  the 
debt,  but  also  exert  all  the  influence  which  he  possesses  to  per- 
suade his  fellow-citizens  to  be  of  the  same  opinion  ?  Nay, 
even  this  is  not  enough.  He  cannot  free  himself  from  the* 
stain  of  di.  honesty  until  he  has  used  all  the  constitutional 
means  in  his  power  to  secure  the  election  of  those  rulers  who 
will  redeem  the  solemn  pledges  of  the  state,  and  reassure  the 
world  that  the  national  honor  is  inviolate. 

3.  It  will,  I  presume,  be  admitted  that  the  precepts  of  the 
gospel  in  no  case  whatever  allow  the  disciple  of  Christ  to  be 
voluntarily  a  partaker,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  the  commission 
of  wrong.  This  principle  is  of  universal  application.  It 
governs  us  under  all  circumstances  in  which  we  can  possibly 
be  placed.  It  matters  not  whether  the  wrong  be  intended  by 
an  individual  or  by  a  society,  whether  we  are  to  gain  or  to  losG 
by  the  transaction.  Our  decision  can  be  swayed  neither  by  the 
terrors  of  power,  nor  by  the  allurements  of  affection ;  neither 
24* 


282  OBEDIENCE    TO   THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

by  the  frown  of  a  tyrant,  nor  the  frenzy  of  a  mob.  The 
disciple  of  Christ  can  bow  down  before  nothing  but  right.  We 
must  hatfc  father  and  mother,  houses  and  lands,  yea,  and  our 
own  life  also,  for  the  sake  of  Christ.  And  Christ  forewarns  us 
that  if  we  love  him,  we  must  keep  his  commandments  in  pref- 
erence to  those  of  man,  whether  individual  or  social,  and 
irrespective  of  the  consequences  which  may  follow  from  our 
obedience.  "  Fear  not  them,"  saith  he,  "  that  kill  the  body, 
and  after  that  have  nothing  that  they  can  do  ;  but  fear  Him  who 
is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  hell.  Yea,  I  say  unto 
you,  fear  him." 

But  even  this  is,  in  fact,  the  operation  of  nothing  more  than 
a  generally  admitted  moral  principle.  If  there  be  any  distinc- 
tion between  virtue  and  vice,  if  guilt  and  innocence  be  not  the 
mere  figments  of  the  nursery  ;  if  man  be  endowed  with  a 
conscience  by  which  he  is  allied  to  God,  and  by  the  possession 
of  which  he  is  rendered  accountable  to  him  ;  if  this  life  be  a 
state  of  probation,  and  if  every  one  of  our  actions  here  will 
continue  to  "unfold  its  consequences  after  ages  upon  ages  have 
rolled  away ;  if  the  favor  of  God  be  infinitely  the  greatest 
blessing,  and  his  displeasure  infinitely  the  direst  curse,  of  which 
the  mind  of  creatures  can  conceive,  —  then,  surely,  our  moral 
obligations  must  take  precedence  of  every  other  impulse,  and 
we  must  do  what  we  believe  to  be  right,  not  only  in  the  face 
of  danger,  but,  if  need  be,  in  deliberate  defiance  of  the  power 
of  the  unanimous  world. 

From  these  remarks  it  must,  I  think,  appear  evident,  that 
every  member  of  a  society  is  guilty  of  the  wrong-doing  of 
that  society,  unless  he  has  employed  all  the  innocent  means 
in  his  power  to  prevent  it ;  that  the  essential  principles  of  the 
Christian  religion  forbid  us  to  participate,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, in  wrong-doing ;  that  they  oblige  us  to  put  forth  all 
the  innocent  means  in  our  power  to  prevent  it  or  to  arrest  its 
progress ;  and  if  this  last  be  impossible,  they  command  us 
to  withdraw  from  all  participation  in  what  we  believe  to  be 
displeasing  to  God. 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  283 

Of  the  truth  of  these  principles  I  think  there  can  be  no 
doubt.  If  I  mistake  not,  they  commend  themselves  to  the 
reason  and  conscience  of  every  man  as  soon  as  they  are  pre- 
sented. The  only  question  that  remains  to  be  considered  is 
this  :  In  what  manner  do  these  principles  limit  our  obedience  to 
the  civil  magistrate  ?  or,  hi  other  words,  how  may  we  render 
unto  Crcsar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  and  yet  shun  participa- 
tion in  the  guilt  of  Caesar  ? 

I  inquire,  first,  Do  the  principles  of  the  gospel  permit  us  to 
resist  by  force  the  wrong-doing  of  our  government  ?  This 
question  may,  I  think,  be  easily  answered  by  referring  to 
the  exposition  previously  given  respecting  the  object  of  civil 
society.  Civil  society  is  instituted  for  the  purpose  of  securing 
to  man  the  enjoyment  of  those  rights  with  which  he  has  been 
endowed  by  his  Creator.  So  long  as  it  discharges  this  its 
office,  making  all  due  allowance  for  human  imperfection,  and 
so  long  as  this  is  its  honest  intention,  we  have  no  authority  to 
resist  it.  When,  on  the  contrary,  it  not  only  ceases  to  perform 
this  its  only  office,  but  also  employs  its  power  in  depriving  us 
of  those  rights  conferred  upon  us  by  our  Creator,  then,  in  the 
view  of  reason  and  religion,  it  ceases  to  be  a  government. 

Destitute  of  moral  principle,  it  is  nothing  but  power  without 
authority  ;  and  we  are  justified  in  setting  it  aside,  and  con- 
structing a  government  in  its  place.  For  no  other  reason,  so 
far  as  I  perceive,  are  we  justified  in  resisting  by  force  that 
which  performs  the  functions  of  government.  The  magistracy 
may  err ;  it  may  do  wrong ;  it  may,  in  many  respects,  treat  me 
unjustly  ;  it  may  treat  foreign  nations  unjustly  ;  but  none  of  this, 
nor  all  of  it  together,  justifies  rne  in  resisting  it  by  force,  so 
long  as  it  accomplishes,  or  honestly  intends  to  accomplish,  the  • 
purpose  for  which  it  was  established.  The  government  of 
Rome,  in  the  times  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  was  exceedingly 
corrupt  and  oppressive  ;  and  yet  we  find  not  a  syllable  in  the 
New  Testament  which  would  authorize  a  citizen  to  rebel 
against  it,  but  very  much  that  inculcates  obedience  to  it  in  all 
things  not  forbidden  by  the  commandments  of  God. 


284  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL,    MAGISTRATE. 

If,  then,  we  are  forbidden  to  resist  the  civil  magistracy  by. 
force,  in  what  manner  may  a  Christian  citizen  innocently 
deliver  himself  from  the  guilt  of  wrong  perpetrated  by  the 
government  of  his  country  ?  To  this  question  let  us  endeavor 
to  return  an  intelligible  answer. 

First.  I  presume  it  will  be  admitted  that  every  man  is  bound 
to  understand  the  nature  of  every  question  on  which  he  gives  an 
opinion  ;  especially  when  that  opinion  must  lead  to  a  practical 
result.  This  is  as  true  of  questions  of  public  as  of  those  of 
private  concernment.  If  it  be  true  in  general,  it  is  much  more 
definitely  true  in  those  cases  where  we  utter  our  constitutional 
opinion  in  the  act  of  suffrage.  If  this  be  true  of  other  gov- 
ernments, how  much  more  emphatically  is  it  true  of  our  own ! 
We  have  chosen  a  form  of  government  in  which  all  power 
emanates  from  the  individual  citizen.  We  declare,  in  the  most 
unambiguous  manner,  that  the  officers  of  government  are  our 
agents,  in  all  respects  responsible  to  us  their  principals.  If 
we  claim  the  enjoyment  of  this  right,  we  must  not  shrink  from 
the  responsibility  which  it  imposes  upon  us.  Can  any  thing 
be  more  obvious  than  this,  that  he  who  claims  the  right  of 
directing  the  concerns  of  a  community,  is  under  a  moral 
obligation  to  qualify  himself  for  the  discharge  of  the  duty 
which  he  has  voluntarily  assumed  ? 

When  men  unite  in  the  establishment  of  a  government,  they 
mutually  promise,  in  all  their  relations  with  each  other,  to  yield 
obedience  to  certain  fundamental  principles.  The  object  of 
these  principles  is,  to  define  and  limit  the  power  of  the  magis- 
tracy, and  to  prescribe  the  manner  in  which  this  power  shall 
be  exerted.  The  enunciation  of  these  principles  forms  what 
is  called  a  constitution.  This  being  once  established,  it  .binds 
'all  and  it  protects  all.  It  is  a  solemn  and  mutual  contract 
between  every  individual  on  the  one  part,  and  the  whole  com- 
munity on  the  other  part.  Upon  the  faithful  fulfilment  of  this 
contract  depend  the  freedom  of  every  individual  and  the 
security  of  his  rights,  whether  civil  or  religious.  We  can 
neither  assume  powers  not  conferred  upon  us  by  this  instru- 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  285 

ment,  nor  refuse  to  carry  its  provisions  into  practice,  either 
ourselves  or  by  our  agents,  without  a  violation  of  our  solemn 
obligations.  It  matters  not  how  overpowering  the  majority  by 
whom  the  outrage  is  committed,  nor  how  small  the  minority 
whose  rights  arc  infringed,  nor  how  elevated  the  position  of 
the  functionary  by  whom  the  act  is  performed  ;  it  is  a  crime 
of  the  deepest  dye,  and  merits,  and  should  meet,  the  sternest 
reprobation  of  every  virtuous  man.  If,  then,  such  be  the 
responsibility  assumed  by  every  citizen  of  a  free  government, 
it  surely  becomes  him  to  understand  the  provisions  of  that 
instrument  by  which  this  responsibility  is  created. 

The  same  remarks  apply  essentially  to  those  parts  of  the 
social  compact  by  which  our  intercourse  with  foreign  nations 
is  regulated.  We  appoint  public  officers  to  conduct  all  our 
affairs  with  other  countries.  We  prescribe  the  limits  within 
which  their  power  in  this  respect  shall  be  exerted.  We  assert 
the  right  of  directing  our  agents  according  to  our  own  will, 
and  hence  we  are  responsible  for  their  acts.  This  right  we 
must  exercise,  unless  we  consent  to  become  slaves  rather  than 
freemen.  Should  we  allow  our  rulers  to  violate  the  rights  of 
other  nations,  to  involve  us  in  wars  according  to  their  own  will, 
not  only  should  we  be  principals  in  the  guilt  of  bloodshed,  but, 
while  we  boast  of  the  freedom  of  our  institutions,  we  should 
in  fact  become  the  minions  of  a  despot. 

Secondly.  Supposing  a  Christian  citizen  to  have  made  him- 
self acquainted  with  the  principles  of  the  constitution  under 
which  he  lives,  he  is  bound  to  apply  these  principles  to  the 
decision  of  every  public  measure  on  which  he  forms  an  opin- 
ion. The  first  question  for  him  to  ask  in  respect  to  every 
public  act  is  this :  Can  this  act  be  done  without  violation  of  the 
compact  by  which  I  and  my  fellow-citizens  have  promised  to 
bind  ourselves  in  our  relations  with  each  other  ?  If  the 
answer  to  this  question  be  in  the  negative,  no  matter  what 
may  be  the  advantage  to  be  secured,  no  matter  how  urgent 
may  be  the  demands  of  a  political  party  struggling  for  place, 
a  Christian  and  an  honest  man  must  shrink  back  from  the  act 


286  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

with  indignation.  Or  again :  suppose  that  we  find  the  power 
to  have  been  committed  to  the  magistrate,  —  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  his  manner  of  using  it  is  in  accordance  with  the 
compact.  It  may  have  been  committed  to  him  for  one  purpose, 
and  he  may  use  it  for  another.  This  is  a  violation  of  the 
contract,  and  against  it  we  are  bound  to  protect  ourselves  and 
our  fellow-citizens.  Take,  as  an  illustration,  the  case  of  a 
declaration  and  prosecution  of  war.  The  authority  to  declare 
war  is  granted  by  us  to  our  legislators.  But  for  what  purpose 
was  this  authority  conferred  ?  Plainly  for  the  purpose  of 
defending  us  from  aggression,  and  protecting  us  from  injury. 
Was  authority  ever  given  by  this  people  to  their  rulers  to 
prosecute  a  war  for  conquest,  or  for  glory,  or  to  extend 
slavery,  or  to  restrict  it  ?  In  the  formation  of  our  constitution, 
as  I  have  said  before,  if  such  a  power  had  been  demanded, 
would  it  ever  have  been  conceded  ?  Would  not  the  concession 
of  such  a  power  have  branded  us  at  once  as  a  nation  of  free- 
booters ?  In  such  ways  as  these,  I  suppose,  we  are  to  apply 
the  principles  of  the  constitution  to  the  decision  of  every 
public  act. 

But  this  is  not  all.  Suppose  that  the  act  be  not  in  violation  of 
the  principles  of  the  constitution,  —  we  may  yet  inquire  whether 
it  be  in  violation  of  the  principles  of  the  gospel.  Suppose  a 
nation  has  given  us  cause  of  offence  ;  a  disciple  of  Christ  must 
ask  himself,  Can  I  be  a  party  to  measures  which  seek  for  the 
redress  of  grievance  by  means  of  the  slaughter  of  tens  of 
thousands  of  innocent  persons,  and  the  destruction  of  hundreds 
of  millions  of  treasure  —  treasure  earned  by  the  bone  and  sinew 
of  my  fellow-men,  whether  friends  or  enemies  ?  Could  I,  in  a 
matter  of  private  grief,  pursue  my  revenge  in  a  similar  man- 
ner ?  Every  Christian,  in  the  solitude  of  the  closet,  in  the 
presence  of  his  God,  is  bound  to  ask  all  these  questions,  and 
to  answer  them  for  himself.  He  must  put  far  away  from  him 
the  prejudice  of  sectional  interests ;  he  must  close  his  ears  to 
the  mandates  of  a  political  party,  and  calmly  and  resolutely 
form  his  opinions  in  the  sight  of  the  omniscient  God,  and  in 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  287 

the  full  conviction  that  the  result  to  which  he  shall  arrive  will 
meet  him  again  in  the  day  when  the  secrets  of  men's  hearts 
shall  be  revealed. 

And  now,  supposing  that,  after  such  a  review,  a  Christian 
shall  be  convinced  that  the  acts  of  his  government  are  in  vio- 
lation of  the  compact  from  which  all  authority  emanates,  or  at 
variance  with  the  moral  law  which  Christ  has  revealed  to  our 
race,  —  what  then  shall  he  do  ?  I  answer,  as  a  Christian,  a  citi- 
zen, and  a  freeman,  he  cannot  be  guiltless  unless  he  put  forth 
all  his  social  and  constitutional  influence  to  prevent  or  to 
arrest  jt. 

If  it  be  asked  by  what  means  can  this  be  done,  the  answer 
is  at  hand.  Having  formed  his  opinions  in  obedience  to  moral 
principle,  let  him  freely  and  fearlessly  express  them.  It  is 
thus  alone  that  a  virtuous  and  independent  public  opinion  can 
be  formed.  We  are  bound  to  do  this  in  obedience  to  the 
dictates  of  humanity.  He  who  possesses  knowledge  which  he 
believes  to  be  valuable  to  the  community,  is  under  obligation  to 
divulge  it.  The  command  of  our  Lord  has  made  this  our 
duty,  under  the  most  imperative  sanction.  "  What  I  have  told 
you  in  darkness,  that  speak  ye  in  the  light ;  and  what  ye  hear  in 
the  ear,  that  preach  ye  on  the  house-tops ;  and  fear  not  those 
that  kill  the  body."  And,  indeed,  unless  this  be  done,  by  what 
means  shall  truth  and  righteousness  make  progress  in  the 
world  ?  The  wicked  labor  without  ceasing  to  extinguish  moral 
light ;  and  if  we,  to  whom  its  custody  has  been  committed, 
hide  it'  under  a  bushel,  instead  of  placing  it  upon  a  candle- 
stick, we  betray  the  cause  of  truth,  and  by  our  silence  declare 
our  willingness  that  it  be  banished  from  the  earth. 

And  here  I  may  add,  that,  in  a  free  government  like  our 
own,  this  manly  avowal  of,  our  adherence  to  right,  and  our 
opposition  to  evil,  would  commonly  render  a  resort  to  other 
measures  comparatively  needless.  The  good  men  among  us 
—  and  under  this  term  I  mean  to  include  all  men  of  virtuous 
sentiments,  whether  they  profess  themselves  the  disciples  of 
Christ  or  not  —  have  it  perfectly  in  their  power,  by  the  calm 


28S  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

and  decided  expression  of  their  moral  convictions,  to  direct 
the  destinies  of  this  nation.  There  never  has  existed,  and 
there  never  can  exist,  either  an  administration  or  a  politica. 
party,  that  would  dare  to  trifle  with  the  uttered  sentiments  of 
the  men  of  principle  in  the  United  States.  Were  such  an 
act  done  but  once,  there  would  be  small  temptation  to  repeat 
the  insult.  If  you  ask  me  why  it  is,  then,  that  public  wrongs 
are  so  frequently  done,  and  the  doers  of  them  held  scathless, 
I  answer,  it  is  because  those  sentiments  are  not  uttered. 
There  exists  among  us  a  fear  of  avowing  our  moral  senti- 
ments upon  political  questions,  which  seems  to  me  as  servile 
as  it  is  unaccountable.  It  envelops  society  like  a  poisoned 
atmosphere.  It  is  invisible  and  intangible,  but  every  virtuous 
sentiment  that  breathes  it  grows  torpid,  loses  consciousness, 
gasps  feebly,  and  dies.  To  this  result  every  man  contributes 
who  withholds  the  expression  of  his  honest  indignation  on 
every  occasion  of  public  wrong-doing. 

2.  But  the  mere  expression  of  our  moral  sentiments  by  no 
means  discharges  us  from  the  responsibility  which  rests  upon 
us  as  Christian  citizens.  Our  sentiments  are  worthless,  not  to 
say  savoring  of  hypocrisy,  unless  they  lead  us  to  correspond- 
ent action.  When  we  believe  an  act  to  be  wrong,  we  have 
no  more  right  to  appoint  a  man  to  office,  who,  as  we  believe, 
will  perform  it,  than  we  have  to  perform  it  ourselves.  For 
such  a  man  we  cannot,  with  a  good  conscience,  vote.  By 
refusing  to  vote  for  such  a  man,  we  in  part  deliver  ourselves 
from  the  guilt  of  wrong-doing.  But  we  must  go  farther. 
We  must  not  merely  have  no  part  in  wrong-doing,  —  we  must 
see  to  it  that  wrong  be  not  done.  We  must  use  all  innocent, 
constitutional  means  to  secure  the  doing  of  right.  We  must 
choose  men  to  represent  us  whom  we  believe  to  be  governed 
by  moral  principle,  who  will  act  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  who 
will  love  right,  and  justice,  and  mercy,  better  than  personal 
aggrandizement  or  political  power.  By  this,  I  do  not  mean 
that  we  should  limit  our  selection  to  any  religious  sect,  or  to 
the  professors  of  any  form  of  belief.  Far  from  it.  All  that 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  289 

I  claim  is,  that  we  shall  choose  men  who  will  represent  the 
moral,  as  well  as  the  political,  sentiments  of  this  nation.  A 
virtuous  man  has  certainly  a  right  to  demand  that  his  moral 
feelings  be  not  outraged  by  the  public  agent  whom  he  appoints. 
If  we  sternly  enforce  this  demand,  we  ourselves  shall  be 
innocent,  and  the  republic  will  be  safe. 

But  suppose  that  our  honest  efforts  thus  put  forth  are  inef- 
fectual, and  a  course  of  public  wrong-doing  has  been  actually 
commenced,  —  what  is  then  our  duty  ? 

I  reply,  the  fact  that  our  country  has  commenced  a  course 
of  wrong-doing,  in  no  manner  whatever  alters  the  moral 
character  of  the  action.  The  greater  the  number  of  persons 
combined  to  perpetrate  injury,  the  greater  is  the  wickedness 
and  the  more  interminable  the  mischief.  A  nation  seems  a 
vast  and  magnificent  conception  to  us,  the  children  of  yes- 
terday ;  but  it  is  otherwise  with  "  Him  who  sitteth  on  the  circle 
of  the  earth,  and  the  inhabitants  thereof  are  like  grasshoppers  ; 
who  taketh  up  the  isles  as  a  very  little  thing,  and  before  whom 
all  nations  are  counted  as  less  than  nothing  and  vanity." 
What,  then,  is  the  will  of  a  nation  in  comparison  with  the 
command  of  Almighty  God  ?  and  what  can  be  the  measure 
of  that  impiety  which  exclaims,  "  Our  country,  whether  r^ht 
or  wrong  "  ?  that  is,  our  country  in  defiance  of  the  Eternal 
One  himself. 

Every  virtuous  man  must  shrink  back  with  trembling  from 
so  glaring  an  impiety,  and  look  with  abhorrence  upon  a  cause 
which  requires  such  sentiments  to  sustain  it.  If  his  country 
has  done  or  is  doing  wrong,  he  must  boldly  and  fearlessly 
express  his  opinion  of  the  transaction.  He  must,  as  I  have 
before  remarked,  use  all  the  constitutional  power  which  he 
possesses,  in  order  to  bring  the  public  wickedness  to  a  close. 
Were  the  good  men  of  this  nation  thus  to  unite,  national 
wickedness  among  us  would  be  of  very  limited  duration. 

But  this  is  not  all.  While  the  wrong-doing  is  in  progress, 
we  are  bound  to  have  no  further  participation  in  it  than  our 
social  condition  renders  indispensable.  The  punishment 
25 


290  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

which  God  inflicts  upon  the  nation  for  its  crime,  we  must 
bear  in  common  with  our  fellow-citizens.  This  we  cannot 
avoid,  and  we  must  bear  it  manfully  and  uncomplainingly. 
But  we  can  go  no  farther.  We  may  have  no  share  in  the 
gains  of  iniquity.  A  good  man  can  arm  no  privateers  against 
his  brethren  of  another  nation  because  his  government  has 
styled  them  his  enemies.  He  can  loan  no  money  to  govern- 
ment, no  matter  how  advantageous  the  terms  of  investment, 
in  order  to  carry  on  an  iniquitous  war.  He  can  undertake 
no  contracts  by  which  he  may  become  rich  out  of  the  wages 
of  unrighteousness.  He  may  not  say,  If  I  do  not  reap  these 
gains,  other  men  will  reap  them.  They  are  the  gains  of  wick- 
edness, and  let  the  wicked  have  them.  If  a  good  man 
believe  that  moral  principle  is  better  than  gold,  this  is  pre- 
cisely the  occasion  on  which  he  is  called  upon  to  show  his 
faith  by  his  works.  The  only  question  for  a  conscientious 
man  to  ask  is  this  :  Is  the  public  act  wrong  in  the  sight  of  God  ? 
If  it  be  wrong,  he  must  have  nothing  to  do  with  it,  and  he 
can  no  more  innocently  aid  it  with  his  capital  than  with  his 
personal  service. 

But  it  may  be  said,  that  a  course  of  conduct  like  this  would 
destroy  all  political  organizations,  and  render  nugatory  the 
designations  in  which  we  have  for  so  very  long  prided  our- 
selves. If  this  be  all  the  mischief  that  is  done,  the  republic, 
I  think,  may  very  patiently  endure  it.  The  voice  of  history 
has  surely  spoken  in  vain,  ^  it  has  not  taught  us  that  political 
parties  have  ever  been  combinations  for  the  purposes  of  per- 
sonal aggrandizement,  advocating  or  denouncing  whatever 
political  principles  would  best  subserve  the  selfish  objects 
which  alone  gave  efficiency  to  their  organization.*  And 

*  "  The  history  of  English  party  is  as  certainly  that  of  a  few  great 
men  and  powerful  families,  on  the  one  hand,  contending  for  place  and 
power,  with  a  few  others  on  the  opposite  quarter,  as  it  is  the  history 
of  the  Plantagenets,  the  Tudors,  and  the  Stuarts.  There  is  nothing 
more  untrue  than  to  represent  principle  at  the  bottom  of  it ;  interest 
is  at  the  bottom,  and  the  opposition  of  principle  is  subservient  to  the 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE.  291 

besides  this,  if  a  disciple  of  Christ  has  learned  to  value  his 
political  party  more  highly  than  he  does  truth,  and  justice, 
and  mercy,  it  is  surely  time  that  his  connection  with  it  were 
broken  off.  Let  him  learn  to  surrender  party  for  rroral  prin- 
ciple, and  stand  forth,  though  he  stand  alone,  the  friend  of 
righteousness.  Let  all  good  men  do  this,  and  they  will  form 
a  party  by  themselves  —  a  party  acting  in  the  fear  of  God, 
and  sustained  .by  the  arm  of  omnipotence.  Then  would  our 
nation  present  the  glorious  spectacle  of  a  people  governed  by 
the  laws  of  God  ;  obeying,  ab.ove  all  things,  the  rule  of  eter- 
nal rectitude.  Then  God  would  be  our  refuge  and  strength  ; 
p  very  present  help  in  trouble.  God  would  be  in  the  midst 
of  us,  and  we  should  not  be  moved.  God  would  help  us, 
and  that  right  early. 

To  all  this  I  know  it  will  be  answered,  there  are  never 
more  than  two  political  parties ;  and  though  with  neither  can 
a  good  man  harmonize,  yet  he  must  unite  with  either  the  one 
or  the  other,  lest  his  influence  be  altogether  thrown  away. 
He  must,  therefore,  become  a  party  to  much  that  is  wrong, 
that  thus  he  may  accomplish  a  probable  good.  To  this  ob- 
jection our  reply  must  be  brief.  It  declares  it  to  be  our  duty 
to  do  wrong  for  the  sake  of  attaining  a  purpose  ;  or,  in  the 

opposition  of  interest.  Accordingly,  the  result  has  been,  that  unless 
perhaps  when  a  dynasty  was  changed,  as  in  1688,  and  figr  some  time 
afterwards,  and  excepting  in  questions  connected  with  this  change, 
the  very  same  conduct  was  held,  and  the  same  principle*  professed,  by  both 
parties  when  in  office,  and  by  both  in  opposition.  The  "Whig,  when  not 
in  office,  was  for  retrenchment  and  for  peace ;  transplant  him  into 
office,  and  he  cared  little  for  either.  Bills  of  coercion,  suspensions  of 
the  constitution,  were  his  abhorrence  when  propounded  by  Tories ; 
in  place,  he  propounded  them  himself.  Acts  of  indemnity  and  of 
attainder  were  the  favorites  of  the  Tory  in  power  ;  the  Tory  in  oppo- 
sition was  the  enemy  of  both.  The  gravest  charge  ever  brought  by  a 
Whig  against  his  adversary  was  the  personal  proscription  of  an  exalted 
individual  to  please  a  king  ;  the  worst  charge  that  the  Tory  can  level 
against  the  Whig  is  the  support  of  a  proscription  still  less  justifiable, 
to  please  a  viceroy."  —  Lord  Brougham  on  the  Effects  of  Party. 


292  OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL    MAGISTRATE. 

words  of  the  apostle,  "  to  do  evil  that  good  may  come." 
This  is  its  simple  and  obvious  meaning,  and  we  leave  it  to 
the  condemnation  of  the  apostle.  But,  besides  all  this,  when 
we  urge  such  a  plea,  we  seem  to  forget  that  there  is  a  power 
in  truth  and  rectitude,  which  wise  men  would  be  wiser  did 
they  duly  appreciate.  Let  the  moral  principle  of  this  coun- 
try only  find  an  utterance,  and  party  organizations  would 
quail  before  its  rebuke.  How  often  have  we  seen  a  combi- 
nation, insignificant  in  point  of  numbers,  breaking  loose  from 
the  trammels  of  party,  and  uniiing  in  the  support  of  a  single 
principle,  hold  the  balance  of  power  between  contending 
parties,  and  wield  the  destinies  of  either  at  its  will !  Let 
virtuous  men,  then,  unite  on  the  ground  of  universal  moral 
principle,  and  the  tyranny  of  party  will  be  crushed.  Were 
the  virtuous  men  of  this  country  to  carry  their  moral  senti- 
ments into  practice,  and  act  alone  rather  than  participate  in 
the  doing  of  wrong,  all  parties  would,  from  necessity,  submit 
to  their  authority,  and  the  acts  of  the  nation  would  become  a 
true  exponent  of  the  moral  character  of  our  people. 

And  unless  we  do  this,  it  is  both  folly  and  injustice  to 
complain  of  the  magistracy  which  we  have  set  over  us.  We 
have  no  reason  to  expect  in  a  legislator  a  higher  degree  of 
virtue  than  we  possess  ourselves.  It  is  ungenerous  to  blame 
him  for  being  a  selfish  partisan,  when  we  ourselves  have  set 
him  the  example.  It  is  unreasonable  to  expect  him  to  sac- 
rifice office,  emolument,  and  influence,  for  principle,  while 
Ave  dare  not  act  from  principle  when  we  have  none  of  these 
to  lose.  It  is  shameful  to  ask  him  to  forsake  his  party  for 
right,  when  we  ourselves,  if  he  obeyed  our  wishes,  would  be 
the  first  to  abandon  him.  If  we  expect  moral  independence 
in  our  representatives,  we  must  show  them  that  we  possess  it 
ourselves.  If  we  ask  them  to  peril  their  political  influence 
for  right,  we  must  at  least  show  them  that  the  moral  principle 
of  their  constituents  will  sustain  them  in  well-doing. 

We  see,  then,  that  this  whole  discussion  tends  to  one  very 
simple  practical  conclusion.  A  virtuous  man  is  bound  to 


OBEDIENCE    TO    THE    CIVIL,    MAGISTRATE.  293 

carry  his  principles  into  practice  in  all  the  relations  of  life. 
He  can  no  more  do  wrong  in  company  than  alone,  and  be 
guiltless.  If  he  be  a  true  man,  he  must  love  right,  and  jus- 
tice, and  mercy,  better  than  political  party  or  personal  popu- 
larity. If  he  fear  God,  he  must  obey  God  rather  than  man, 
and  this  fear  must  govern  his  conduct  universally.  In  this 
matter,  every  man  must  begin  not  with  his  neighbor,  but  with 
himself;  and,  if  he  wish  our  country  to  be  reformed,  let  him 
begin  the  work  immediately.  Let  us  all,  then,  lay  these 
things  solemnly  to  heart,  and  may  God  grant  us  grace  to 
carry  them  into  practice. 
25* 


THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE. 


PART    I 

"  BE  WISE  NOW,  THEREFORE,  O  YE  KINGS  ;  BE  INSTRUCTED,  YE  JUDGES 
OF  THE  EARTH.  SERVE  THE  LORD  WITH  FEAR,  AND  REJOICE  WITH 
TREMBLING.  KlSS  THE  SON,  LEST  HE  BE  ANGRY,  AND  YE  PERISH  FROM 
THE  WAY,  WHEN  HIS  WRATH  IS  KINDLED  BUT  A  LITTLE.  BLESSED 
ARE  ALL  THEY  THAT  PUT  THEIR  TRUST  IN  HIM." 

Psalm  ii.  10—12. 

WITHIN  a  few  months,  events  have  occurred  on  the  conti- 
nent of  Europe  unparalleled  in  importance  in  the  history 
of  civilization.  Ideas  on  the  subject  of  civil  government, 
that  have  swayed  the  minds  of  men  for  ages,  have,  by 
almost  universal  consent,  been  pronounced  false  in  theory  and 
mischievous  in  practice ;  and  other  ideas,  their  exact  con- 
tradictories, have  occupied  their  place,  and  assumed  their 
authority.  As  in  individual,  so  in  social  man,  the  material  act 
obeys  the  spiritual  will.  A  change  in  political  opinions  must 
be  followed  by  a  change  in  political  organization.  Hence  it 
may,  with  some  confidence,  be  predicted  that  with  the  present 
year  will  commence  a  new  era  in  European  history.  Com- 
binations once  irresistible  have  become  powerless ;  and  com- 
binations, the  outlines  of  which  can  scarcely  be  discerned  in 
the  dimness  of  the  future,  must  henceforth  give  form  and 
pressure  to  the  destinies  of  man. 

At  such  a  crisis,  our  thoughts  are  naturally  turned  upward  to 
the  throne  of  Him  "  by  whom  kings  reign  and  princes  decree 
justice ;  who  stilleth  the  noise  of  the  Seas,  the  noise  of  their 


THE    RECENT    REVOLUTIONS    IN    EUROPE.  295 

waves,  and  the  tumult  of  the  people."  In  such  a  social 
deluge,  when  the  foundations  of  the  great  deep  are  broken  up, 
even  the  most  thoughtless  cannot  but  recognize  the  exertion 
of  uncreated  power.  It  may  not,  therefore,  be  unsuitable  for 
us  to  direct  our  attention  to  this  subject,  in  order  that  we  may 
devoutly  reflect  upon  the  dealings  of  the  Most  High  with  the 
children  of  men,  and  derive,  from  the  facts  transpiring  before 
us,  such  lessons  of  instruction  as  they  are  intended  to  convey. 
But  I  confess  that  I  undertake  this  task  with  serious  misgivings. 
The  events  themselves  are  so  surprising,  the  consequences 
which  must  flow  from  them  are  so  vast  and  interminable,  and 
the  agency  by  which  they  have  been  produced  so  evidently 
supernatural,  that  I  deeply  feel  my  own  incompetency  to  treat 
of  them  as  their  importance  obviously  demands.  I  am,  how- 
ever, desirous  of  assisting  you  to  interpret  these  changes  aright, 
and  of  enabling  you,  from  the  teachings  of  history,  to  learn  the 
principles  which  are  illustrated  in  the  moral  government  of  the 
world.  Conscious  of  my  liability  to  err,  I  would  utter  neither 
indiscriminate  censure  of  the  past,  nor  confident  prediction 
concerning  the  future;  I  shall,  therefore,  confine  myself  to 
such  general  views  as  would  naturally  present  themselves  to 
every  observer,  who  looks  upon  passing  occurrences  in  the 
light  of  Christian  and  political  ethics. 

Let  us,  then,  in  the  first  place,  briefly  review  the  events 
which,  within  a  few  months,  have  transpired  on  the  continent 
of  Europe. 

For  some  years  past,  the  moral  and  political  condition  of 
Europe  seemed  covered  with  gloom.  The  lessons  taught  by 
the  first  French  revolution  appeared  to  have  been  forgotten, 
and  civil  and  spiritual  despotism  was  regaining  its  ancient 
ascendency.  The  doctrine  that  the  authority  to  rule  mankind 
had  been  conferred  by  God  upon  a  few  families  in  perpetual 
succession ;  that  the  people  are  made  for  the  rulers,  and  not 
the  rulers  for  the  people,  and  that  government  exists  simply 
for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  these  relations  unchanged 
forever,  seemed  gradually  to  be  assuming  the  place  of  an 


296      THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

acknowledged  truth.  The  assumption  of  such  an  authority, 
of  course,  took  for  granted  the  right  to  use  all  the  means 
necessary  for  sustaining  it.  Hence  governments  claimed  the 
right  to  control  opinions  on  all  such  subjects  as  they  chose. 
The  church  was  coming  every  day  into  closer  league  with  the 
state.  There  was  scarcely  a  country  on  the  continent  in 
which  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  could  be  preached  without 
danger  of  fine  or  imprisonment,  unless  the  preacher  first  sub- 
jected his  reason  and  conscience  to  the  dictation  of  the 
government.  Nor  was  this  intolerance  at  all  confined  to 
countries  where  Popery  was  the  established  religion.  The 
descendants  of  the  reformers  themselves  had  come  to  need  a 
second  reformation.  Political  opinions  were  even  yet  more 
strictly  under  the  guardianship  of  the  state.  I  hardly  know 
the  country  on  the  continent,  France  only  excepted,  in  which 
the  principles  of  constitutional  liberty  could  have  been  freely 
discussed ;  and  even  in  France,  the  range  of  political  discus- 
sion was  daily  becoming  more  and  more  restricted.  The 
prisons  of  Austria  were  crowded  with  men  of  blameless  lives 
and  elegant  accomplishments,  who,  like  Silvio  Pellico,  had 
been  arrested  and  condemned  without  even  the  form  of  trial, 
for  the  crime  of  longing  after  liberty.  The  church  of  Rome, 
from  the  principles  of  her  constitution  essentially  inimical  to 
the  right  of  private  judgment,  seemed  to  be  rapidly  extending 
her  power,  and  involving  nation  after  nation  more  and  more 
securely  in  the  meshes  of  her  diplomacy. 

There  seemed  to  be  danger  lest  it  should  be  universally 
conceded  that  the  only  right  of  the  people  was  the  right  to  be 
governed.  Constitutions  had  been  promised,  and  the  promises 
had  been  forfeited.  Wherever  concessions  were  made  to  the 
wishes  of  the  people,  it  was  always  taken  for  granted  that  they 
proceeded  from  the  sovereign  grace  of  the  ruler,  and  not  at  all 
from  the  inalienable  right  of  the  ruled.  What  the  monarch 
granted  —  and  even  such  grants  were  the  exception,  and  not 
the  rule  —  the  people  must  accept,  and  be  thankful  for ;  but  it 
was  one  of  the  political  sins  for  which  there  was  no  forgiveness, 


THE    RECENT    REVOLUTIONS    IN    EUROPE.  297 

to  presume,  though  ever  so  humbly,  to  ask  for  more.  The 
throne  and  the  dynasty  were  the  state ;  and  every  thing  most 
dear  to  man  was  willingly  sacrificed,  in  order  to  strengthen 
the  power  of  oppression.  To  utter  an  opinion  adverse  to  the 
system  thus  established  was  treason.  To  suggest  reform  was 
incipient  rebellion.  In  a  time  of  profound  peace,  armies,  at 
the  cost  of  untold  millions,  were  maintained  to  enforce  the 
arbitrary  decrees  of  rulers,  while  the  throne  and  the  aristoc- 
racy were  supported  at  a  rate  of  expenditure  which  crushed 
millions  in  pauperism. 

Nowhere,  but  in  France,  was  there  even  the  semblance  of 
a  representative  government;  and  here  the  semblance  was 
almost  attenuated  to  a  shadow.  The  chamber  of  deputies  had 
become  the  venal  servants  of  the  crown.  Elsewhere,  there 
existed  not  even  the  form  of  an  assembly  by  which  either  the 
voice  of  the  people  could  be  uttered  or  their  grievances  stated 
and  redressed.  The  men  from  whose  capital  and  labor  taxes 
were  drained,  had  no  power  to  determine  how  much  should  be 
paid,  nor  to  what  purpose  the  funds  which  they  contributed 
should  be  appropriated.  It  seemed  as  though  men  had  been 
so  long  accustomed  to  oppression  that  they  at  length  were  dis- 
posed to  bear  it  without  complaint.  Sovereigns  had  united 
together  in  order  to  preserve  the  peace  of  Europe ;  in  other 
words,  to  put  down,  with  their  combined  force,  every  attempt  at 
essential  reform  ;  and  the  people  seemed  ready  to  adapt  them- 
selves to  a  condition  which  hardly  admitted  the  possibility  of 
change  for  the  better.  Though  thousands  -were  almost  daily 
emigrating  to  this  country,  —  though  villages  were  depopulated, 
from  a  desire  to  escape  to  a  land  of  greater  freedom  and 
lighter  taxation,  —  yet  the  mass  that  remained  behind  were 
watched  with  so  sleepless  a  vigilance,  and  guarded  by  a 
power  so  all-pervading  and  irresistible,  that  hope  for  the 
amelioration  of  their  condition  seemed  almost  to  have  perished. 
The  system  of  irresponsible  government  sustained  by  France 
on  the  west,  Austria  on  the  east,  and  Italy  on  the  south, 
appeared  to  rest  upon  a  foundation  which  could  be  shaken  by 
no  power  but  that  of  Omnipotence. 


298     THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

While,  however,  I  say  this,  I  would  not  utter  a  word  that 
shall  even  be  tinged  with  injustice  towards  the  personal 
character  of  European  rulers.  Many  of  them  are  esteemed 
irreproachable  in  all  the  relations  of  private  life.  I  am  willing 
to  believe  that  the  motives  which  have  guided  them  are  inno- 
cent. It  is  but  fair  to  presume,  until  the  contrary  be  proved, 
that  they  believe  themselves  entitled  to  the  authority  which 
they  claimed,  and  that  the  well-being  of  society  could  be 
promoted  by  no  other  means  than  those  which  they  adopted. 
\t  is  surely  natural  to  suppose  that  he  who  finds  himself  in  the 
>ossession  of  hereditary  and  irresponsible  power  should  believe 
.hat  he  holds  that  power  by  right ;  and  that  he  is  under  obli- 
gations to  transmit,  without  diminution,  to  his  successor  that 
which  he  received  in  fee  simple  from  his  ancestors.  All  this 
we  concede  as  just  men  and  as  Christians.  We  have  to  speak 
of  facts,  and  not  of  motives  ;  of  principles,  and  not  of  the  men 
by  whom  they  are  advocated.  Political  doctrines  must  be 
brought  to  the  test  of  truth ;  the  characters  of  men  must  be 
treated  with  charity.  And  yet  further  ;  I  do  not  perceive  that 
this  apology  for  rulers  must  not  be  extended  also  to  their  subjects. 
The  people  who  resist  oppression  may  surely  be  as  virtuous  as 
their  oppressors,  and  their  motives  may  be  as  pure  and  as  much 
entitled  to  respect.  Regarding,  therefore,  both  parties  with 
charity,  let  us  turn  our  attention  to  the  facts  that  have  so  lately 
agitated  every  bosom  throughout  the  civilized  world. 

While  Europe  seemed  thus  relapsing  into  its  former  position, 
and  absolutism  was  daily  gaining  strength,  Christendom  was 
startled  by  the  announcement  that  the  newly-elected  Pope  had 
espoused  liberal  opinions,  and  had  begun  to  place  his  dominions 
in  a  condition  preparatoiy  to  freedom.  His  design  was 
received  with  unbounded  enthusiasm  by  the  whole  population 
of  the  Papal  States.  Every  attempt  to  resist  the  movement 
which  he  had  commenced,  whether  made  by  absolutists  at 
home  or  abroad,  was  promptly  resisted  by  the  people  them- 
selves, and  measures  were  at  once  adopted,  which  have  within 
a  few  months  resulted  in  a  substantially  representative  govern- 


THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE.         299 

ment.  The  flame  of  liberty,  thus  unexpectedly  enkindled, 
rapidly  extended  to  the  neighboring  states.  It  seemed  as 
though  Italy  had  aroused  from  the  slumber  of  twenty  centuries. 
The  population  of  both  Naples  and  Sardinia  with  one  voice 
demanded  freedom  of  the  press  and  responsibility  in  the  gov- 
ernment. Bloodshed  ensued ;  the  issue  for  a  while  seemed 
doubtful ;  but,  after  a  temporary  struggle,  the  people  were  tri- 
umphant. While  these  events  were  transpiring,  the  displeasure 
of  Austria  and  of  the  other  greater  powers  of  the  continent 
became  apparent.  One  of  the  fortresses  of  the  Papal  see  was 
occupied  by  the  troops  of  the  emperor.  No  one  could  foresee 
to  what  these  things  tended.  It  was,  I  believe,  the  general 
impression  that  Austria  would  descend  like  an  avalanche  upon 
Italy,  and,  by  her  gigantic  strength,  trample  in  the  dust  every 
germ  of  free  institutions.  There  seemed  nothing  to  arrest  this 
catastrophe  but  the  spiritual  power  of  the  Pope.  Whether 
even  this  would  avail,  was  doubtful ;  and  Europe  awaited  the 
issue  in  anxious  expectation  ;  but  no  one  anticipated,  in  the  most 
favorable  event,  any  extension  of  free  opinions  beyond  the 
Alps.  Absolutism  in  every  other  direction  seemed  hopelessly 
entailed  upon  the  nations. 

The  throne  of  France,  especially,  at  least,  during  the  life- 
time of  its  late  incumbent,  was  universally  supposed  to  be 
more  firmly  established  than  any  other  in  Europe.  The  mon- 
arch had  been  trained  in  the  school  of  adversity,  and  had  thus 
acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  popular  mind  rarely  possessed  by 
princes.  Professing  liberal  sentiments,  he  had  been  hailed  on 
his  accession  with  the  title  of  citizen  king.  To  high  reputation 
for  military  talent,  he  added  the  renown  of  unrivalled  diplo- 
matic and  administrative  skill.  Europe  was  impressed  with 
the  conviction  that  he  was  perfectly  master  of  his  position.  He 
had  associated  with  him  as  prime  minister  the  ablest  philo- 
sophical statesman  of  his  time,  and  had  strengthened  his 
dynasty  by  family  alliances  in  every  part  of  the  continent. 
Paris,  the  heart  of  France,  was  begirt  with  fortifications,  occu- 
pied by  troops  of  the  line  abundantly  supplied  with  artillery 


300      THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

and  all  the  munitions  of  war,  and  commanded  by  officers  of 
acknowledged  military  skill,  who,  holding  their  commissions 
directly  from  the  king,  were  supposed  to  be  strongly  attached 
to  his  person.  The  regular  army,  as  well  as  the  national 
guard,  was,  so  far  as  it  was  known,  pledged  to  the  support  of 
the  existing  dynasty ;  hence  the  preparations  for  the  exertion 
of  an  overwhelming  physical  force  were  complete,  and  the 
idea  of  successful  resistance  to  the  power  of  the  government 
seemed  absurd. 

But,  while  all  that  met  the  eye  thus  betokened  strength, 
irresistible  moral  causes  had  been  long  in  operation,  which 
had  sapped  the  foundations  of  authority,  and  paralyzed  the 
arm  on  which  despotism  had  leaned  with  so  confident  a  reli- 
ance. The  citizen  king,  instead  of  surrounding  the  throne 
with  republican  institutions,  had  begirt  it  with  nothing  that  was 
not  subsidiary  to  irresponsible  power.  The  legislative  assem- 
blies had  by  venal  majorities  become  the  creatures  of  his  will. 
Civil  and  religious  liberty  was  gradually  restricted  within  nar- 
rower and  narrower  limits.  The  influence  of  France  was 
every  where  lent  to  sustain  the  cause  of  absolutism.  The 
destinies  of  a  mighty  and  intelligent  people  were  directed  by 
the  government  to  the  single  object  of  perpetuating  the  reign 
of  the  family  in  power.  And  it  was  at  last  believed,  whether 
justly  or  unjustly  I  pretend  not  to  determine,  that  the  personal 
character  of  the  monarch  was  unworthy  of  respect,  that  all  his 
aims  were  remorselessly  selfish,  that  all  his  promises  were 
hollow,  and  that  the  most  solemn  pledge  of  his  veracity  might 
be  given  to  an  untruth.  The  foundations  of  the  government 
no  longer  rested  upon  the  moral  sentiments  of  the  people. 
Before  either  rulers  or  ruled  were  aware,  the  current  of  public 
opinion  had  undermined  the  pillars  of  the  throne,  and  rendered 
its  downfall  inevitable.  Yet  neither  prince  nor  people  were 
aware  of  their  position.  The  one  party,  trusting  to  physical 
force,  believed  that  every  expression  of  the  popular  will  might 
be  repressed  by  the  bayonet ;  the  other,  ignorant  of  the 
unanimity  of  feeling  which  pervaded  the  mass,  submitted 


THE    RECENT    REVOLUTIONS    IN    EUROPE.  301 

individually  to  the  encroachments  of  despotism.  There  was 
wanted  nothing  but  a  single  spark  to  ignite  the  sentiment 
of  the  nation,  and,  by  an  explosion  of  universal  public  opinion, 
to  scatter  in  fragments  the  whole  fabric  of  irresponsible  rule. 

It  was  precisely  at  this  crisis,  whilst  mankind  were  looking 
upon  the  government  of  France  as  the  most  secure,  at  least 
for  the  present,  of  any  in  Europe,  that  in  three  days  Louis 
Philippe  was  hurled  from  his  throne ;  his  prime  minister,  as 
well  as  himself,  was  fleeing  in  disguise ;  his  family  were 
wanderers  in  search  of  a  home,  and  even  of  a  shelter ;  the 
political  edifice  which,  for  seventeen  years,  and  with  so  much 
skill,  he  had  constructed,  was  demolished  ;  France  had  abjured 
monarchical  institutions,  and  fallen  back  upon  its  original  social 
elements ;  a  provisional  government  had  been  established,  and 
was  universally  obeyed  ;  and  now,  at  the  last  advices,  we  learn 
that,  at  about  this  time,  deputies  elected  by  universal  suffrage 
are  about  to  form  a  constitution  on  the  basis  of  social  equality, 
perfect  freedom  of  opinions  on  every  subject,  whether  civil 
or  religious,  and  the  complete  responsibility  of  rulers  to  the 
people,  for  whom,  and  in  whose  name,  they  exercise  their 
authority.  And  all  these  changes  were  effected  within  sight 
of  the  fortifications  of  Paris,  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
eighty  thousand  troops  of  the  line  on  whom  the  government 
had  relied  for  support  in  precisely  this  emergency. 

These  events  seemed  of  themselves  so  wonderful,  and  the 
results  to  which  they  might  lead  so  far  transcended  the  limits 
of  human  forecast,  that  the  civilized  world  gazed  upon  them 
with  mingled  astonishment  and  awe.  The  campaigns  of 
Napoleon,  in  their  effect  upon  the  interests  of  humanity, 
dwindled  into  insignificance  in  comparison  with  the  acts  of  the 
three  days  of  February.  The  battles  of  the  warrior  brought 
masses  into  collision ;  the  changes  of  opinion  dissolved  the 
masses  themselves,  and  created  the  necessity  for  new  arrange- 
ments of  the  form,  and  new  modifications  of  the  affinities  of 
society. 

While,  however,  we  were  gazing 'upon  this  surprising  trans- 
26 


302     THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

formation,  we  learned  that  the  movement  which  had  com- 
menced in  France,  had  extended  itself  throughout  Europe  ;  that 
Belgium,  Holland,  Prussia,  Bavaria,  arid  Saxony,  had  yielded 
to  the  pressure  ;  that  Austria,  last  of  all,  as  was  meet,  had 
succumbed  to  the  popular  will ;  and  that  her  veteran  statesman, 
by  far  the  most  sagacious  of  all  the  ministers  of  absolute 
power,  having  resigned  the  seals  of  office,  had  fled  in  dismay 
before  the  only  demonstration  of  liberal  opinions  which  he  had 
found  himself  unable  to  repress.  The  wave  which  had  over- 
whelmed the  Tuileries  had  rolled  onward,  sweeping  away  the 
old  foundations  of  every  throne  on  the  continent ;  and  its 
career  had  not  been  arrested  until  it  reached  the  banks  of  the 
Niemen,  and  laved  the  shores  of  the  half-civilized  empire  of 
the  north.  Peoples,  Protestant  and  Catholic,  equally  yielded 
to  its  power.  Nations,  peaceful  and  warlike,  bowed  in  sub- 
mission to  the  popular  will ;  and  at  the  present  moment,  physi- 
cal force  can  present  no  obstacle  to  the  establishment  of  free 
institutions ;  the  human  mind,  on  questions  affecting  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  is  left  to  its  own  decisions ;  and  eveiy  man  is 
eagerly  inquiring  what  shall  be  the  form  that  society  shall 
assume,  now  that  the  task  of  constructing  its  own  institutions, 
for  the  first  time,  in  all  these  nations,  is  devolved  upon  the 
people  themselves. 

Such  is  a  very  brief  and  imperfect  statement  of  the  events 
which  have  occurred  in  Europe  since  the  commencement  of 
the  present  year.  Some  of  the  circumstances  which  have 
attended  them  deserve  a  passing  notice. 

1.  It  is  a  cause  for  devout  gratitude,  that  these  revolutions 
have  been  thus  far  accomplished  with  so  small  effusion  o£ 
blood.  In  Paris,  Berlin,  and  Vienna,  collisions  took  place 
between  the  soldiery  and  the  people ;  but  the  loss  of  human 
life  was  not,  in  all  these  cases  taken  together,  sufficiently  great 
to  have  attracted  notice  in  the  records  of  an  ordinary  Euro- 
pean campaign.  In  the  wars  of  the  French  revolution,  the 
loss  of  the  same  number  of  men  would  ha\3  been  considered 
unworthy  of  remark  in  an  imperial  bulletin.  And  yet,  at  so 


THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUKOPE.     303 

small  an  expense  of  life,  changes  have  been  effected,  which,  in 
importance,  will  probably  transcend  all  that  had  been  accom- 
plished by  Napoleon,  during  the  whole  of  his  extraordinary 
career. 

2.  In  the  production  of  these  results,  military  force  seems  to 
have  been  almost  inoperative.     It  certainly  did  not  create  the 
revolution ;  it  was  also  equally  powerless  to  prevent  it.     The 
manner  in  which  these  changes  were  effected,  was  almost  uni- 
versally the  same.     A  portion  of  the  people  assembled,  and 
demanded  of  the  government  the   acknowledgment  of  those 
rights,  with  which,  as  intelligent  and  accountable  men,  they 
were  endowed  by  their  Creator.     In  the  greater  number  of 
instances,  these  demands  seemed  so  obviously  just,  and,  yet 
more,  so  manifestly  the  expression  of  the  universal  popular 
will,  that  resistance  seemed  hopeless,  and  it  was  not  attempted. 
In  a  few  instances,  the  remonstrants  were  assaulted  by  military 
force ;  but  the  hireling  soldiery  was  every  where  repulsed  by 
the  spontaneous  resistance  of  the  whole  population.     In  fact, 
in  most  instances,  the  army  seemed  to  be  pervaded  by  the  same 
sentiments  as  the  people.     They  entered  unwillingly  into  the 
contest,  and  more  faithful  than  the  rulers  to  the  inborn  instincts 
of  humanity,  they  shrunk  back  from  the  horrid  task  of  butch- 
ering their  brethren  and  fellow-citizens  contending  for  right. 
At  the  earliest  opportunity,   their  arms  were  reversed,  and 
they  shared  in  the  joy  of  victory  with  those  whom  they  had 
been  commanded  to  slaughter. 

3.  So  far  as  we  have  yet  had  opportunity  to  observe,  there 
appears  to  have  been  a  remarkable  uniformity  of  opinion  in 
respect  to  the  changes  which  the  exigency  demanded.     With 
the  exception  of  France,  there  seems  to  have  been  no  country 
in  which  there  has  existed  any  desire  either  to  abolish  monarch- 
ical government,  or  to  substitute  any  other  dynasty  for  that  on 
the  throne.     The  views  of  the  people  were  wisely  directed  to 
more  important  and  more  radical  changes.     They  demanded 
unlimited  freedom  of  opinions,  universal  equality  of  right,  the 
separation  of  the  church  from  the  state,  and  such  a  repre- 


304     THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

sentation  in  the  legislative  assembly  as  shall  remove  these 
inalienable  rights  beyond  the  grasp  of  arbitrary  power.  The 
desire  most  irresistible  was  that  for  universal  freedom  of  opin- 
ion on  all  questions,  civil  and  religious ;  or  for  what  Roger 
Williams  so  aptly  denominated  soul-liberty ;  all  thoughtful  men 
being  well  aware  that,  this  being  present,  no  other  good  gift 
need  be  wanting. 

And  here  we  may,  perhaps,  not  inappropriately,  pause  for  a 
moment,  to  observe  the  irrepressible  force  of  that  single  idea 
first  brought  to  the  test  of  a  "  lively  experiment,"  by  the 
founder  of  our  little  republic ;  "  that  a  most  flourishing  civil 
state  may  stand,  and  best  be  maintained,  with  a  full  liberty  in 
religious  concernments."  He,  first  of  all  legislators,  was 
willing  to  construct  a  government  upon  the  avowed  principle, 
that,  provided  a  man  by  his  outward  act  did  no  injury  to 
his  neighbor,  he  was  at  unrestricted  liberty  to  worship  God 
according  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience,  and,  in  a 
word,  under  this  restriction,  to  act  perfectly  as  he  chose. 
Manfully  did  he  bear  up  under  the  persecutions  which  he 
endured  for  unshaken  adherence  to  this  great  and  fundamental 
truth.  Wandering  in  forests,  among  savage  men,  "  sorely 
tossed  for  fourteen  weeks  in  a  bitter  winter  season,  not  knowing 
what  bread  nor  bed  did  mean,"  he  abated  not  a  jot  of  heart  or 
hope,  but,  true  to  his  principles,  he  ceased  not  from  his  labors 
until  he  had  established  a  civil  society,  founded  upon  the  prin- 
ciple of  universal  equality  of  right.  And  now,  this,  once  the 
least  of  all  seeds,  has  become  a  great  tree,  and  the  fowls  of  the 
air  lodge  in  the  branches  thereof.  The  little  leaven  is  already 
leavening  the  whole  lump.  This  single  idea,  for  the  promul- 
gation of  which  he  suffered  persecution  almost  unto  death,  has 
become  the  rich  inheritance  of  the  nations,  subduing  peoples 
unto  its  sway  ;  and  at  this  moment  it  is  shaking  the  foundations 
of  every  throne  in  Europe.  Such  is  the  power  of  a  single 
elementary  truth,  and  such  the  rich  reward  for  bearing  up 
Tnanfully  under  persecution  for  the  cause  of  right. 

If,  then,  we  might  sum  up  in  a  word  the  results  of  the  late 


THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE.     305 

revolutions  in  Europe,  we  would  say,  that  the  fundamental 
principle  upon  which  society  has  for  ages  been  organized,  has 
been  practically  changed.  The  Holy  Alliance  announced  to 
the  world  the  doctrine  that  "  all  useful  and  necessary  changes 
ought  only  to  emanate  from  the  free-will  and  intelligent  con- 
viction of  those  whom  God  has  made  responsible  for  power." 
The  doctrine  is  true,  and  its  truth  is  universally  conceded ; 
but  the  mode  of  its  application  has  now  been  exactly  reversed. 
Men  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  ruled,  and  not  the 
rulers,  the  people,  and  not  the  governments,  are  those  whom 
God  has  made  responsible  for  power ;  and  that  it  is  from  their 
free-will  and  intelligent  conviction  that  changes  should  of  right 
emanate.  On  this  principle  they  have  acted ;  and  henceforth 
the  truth  that  governments  are  made  for  the  people,  and,  by 
consequence,  may  be  made  by  the  people,  must,  I  think,  enter 
as  an  element  into  all  the  forms  of  social  organization  in  the 
civilized  world. 

The  time  allotted  to  this  exercise  will  barely  suffice  to  indi- 
cate some  of  the  causes  which  have  led  to  this  wonderful 
change  in  the  civil  polity  of  Europe. 

We  must,  I  think,  look  for  the  cause  of  so  universal  an 
effect  in  the  nature  of  man  himself.  Nothing  either  local  or 
temporary  could  produce  so  extensive  and  so  similar  results. 
I  suppose,  then,  that  God,  in  the  creation  of  man,  endowed 
him  with  the  right  of  self-government,  as  the  necessary  con- 
dition to  moral  responsibility.  Every  man  must  give  an 
account  of  himself  unto  God,  and  must  answer  to  his  Maker 
for  the  use  which  he  makes  of  all  his  powers,  whether  of  body 
or  of  mind,  and  for  the  manner  in  which  he  obeys  the  dictates 
of  his  conscience.  If  God  have  created  man  under  such  a 
responsibility,  it  is  obviously  his  will  that  in  these  respects  every 
man  shall  be  left  perfectly  free.  But,  inasmuch  as  men,  to  say 
the  least,  are  not  perfectly  virtuous,  it  is  obvious  that  the  largest 
freedom  of  which  our  present  condition  is  capable,  can  only 
be  attained  by  restraining  every  man  from  interfering  with 
the  rights  of  his  neighbor.  Society  is  ordained  by  God  for 
26* 


306     THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

the  express  purpose  of  preventing  man  from  interfering  with 
the  rights  of  his  fellow-man,  and  this  purpose  society  accom- 
plishes through  the  means  of  government,  which  is  its  agent. 
The  direct  and  legitimate  object  of  government  is,  therefore, 
to  secure  to  every  individual  the  largest  measure  of  freedom 
of  which  his  nature  renders  him  capable.  This  object  it 
accomplishes  by  enforcing  upon  every  man  obedience  to  the 
same  rule  of  equal  and  universal  right.  So  far  as  this,  gov- 
ernment may  rightfully  go  ;  but  I  see  not,  in  the  principles  of 
either  our  moral  or  social  nature,  any  warrant  for  going -far- 
ther. It  has  no  right  to  restrict  the  individual  unless  he  violate 
some  right  of  his  neighbor.  So  long  as  he  violates  no  right,  he 
is,  so  far  as  civil  government  is  concerned,  perfectly  free,  and 
must  be  left  by  it  to  work  out  his  destiny  for  himself,  subject 
only  to  his  responsibility  to  God. 

Such  being  the  constitution  under  which  God  has  placed  us, 
he  has  taken  means  to  guard  it  from  infraction  by  implanting 
in  the  bosom  of  every  man  an  intense  love  of  liberty.  Men 
love  beyond  expression  to  do  as  they  will,  provided  they  inter- 
fere not  with  the  equal  rights  of  their  neighbors.  They  feel 
that  to  be  restrained  by  their  fellows  from  innocently  seeking 
out  their  own  happiness  as  they  will,  is  an  insult  to  our  common 
nature,  a  tyranny  to  be  resisted  even  unto  death.  Hence  the 
poetry  of  all  ages  has  uttered  the  voice  of  universal  humanity, 
when,  in  its  loftiest  verse,  it  has  hymned  the  praises  of  those 
who  loved  freedom  better  than  life.  Indeed,  so  nearly  unani- 
mous has  this  sentiment  become,  that,  throughout  the  civilized 
world,  only  here  and  there  can  a  voice  be  heard  pronouncing 
the  degrading  absurdity,  that  men  have  a  right  to  buy  and  sell 
each  other  like  cattle  of  the  stall ;  to  arrest  the  full  develop- 
ment of  those  faculties  which  were  made  in  the  image  of 
God  ;  or  to  control  the  innocent  exercise  of  those  powers  for 
the  use  of  which  the  creature  is  responsible  solely  to  the 
Creator.  Ignorance  may,  it  is  true,  render  indistinct  this 
feeling  of  right ;  hereditary  bondage  may  enfeeble  the  desire 
of  liberty ;  and  tyrannical  power  may,  for  a  time,  repress  every 


THE    RECENT    REVOLUTIONS    IN    EUROPE.  307 

generous  emotion  ;  but  the  nature  of  man  cannot  be  changed. 
God  hath  so  made  it,  and  thus  it  must  abide  forever.  The  intense 
and  inextinguishable  desire  for  innocent  freedom,  and,  above 
all,  for  soul-liberty,  has  most  wisely  and  mercifully  been  inter- 
woven, by  the  hand  of  the  Creator  himself,  with  the  idea  of 
moral  responsibility ;  and  what  God  has  thus  joined  together, 
in  the  veiy  act  of  our  creation,  can  never,  by  the  ordinances 
of  man,  be  put  asunder. 

It  needs  nothing  but  the  irresistible  progress  of  intelligence 
to  reveal  to  man  the  knowledge  of  himself;  and  this  love  of 
liberty  is  quickened  into  life,  and  puts  forth  its  indomitable, 
because  universal,  energy.  It  arouses  every  man  to  exertion, 
and  to  exertion  for  a  common  and  well-defined  object.  Hence 
it  is  that  slavery  and  oppression  of  every  kind  have  ever  been 
found  incompatible  with  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  and  the 
progress  of  intelligence.  As  either  advances,  the  other  must 
recede.  That  intellectual  cultivation  alone  will  render  a  free 
government  possible,  I,  however,  by  no  means  assert ;  but  that 
it  must  render  despotism  impossible,  is,  I  think,  a  truth  which 
the  imperishable  instincts  of  our  nature  reveal  to  every  man's 
consciousness. 

It  is,  I  trust,  no  libel  to  affirm  that  the  forms  of  government 
in  continental  Europe  had  become  thoroughly  at  variance  with 
this  universal  feeling  of  individual  right  implanted  by  the 
Creator  in  the  human  soul.  Every  man  felt  that  in  matters 
affecting  his  highest  interests  he  had  a  right  to  do  what  he  was 
forbidden  to  do ;  that  he  had  a  right  to  speak  what  he  was 
forbidden  to  speak  ;  that  the  product  of  his  own  labor  was  his 
own,  and  that,  when  he  surrendered  a  portion  of  it  for  the 
public  benefit,  his  right  over  it  did  not  cease,  but  that  the 
authority  to  determine  the  manner  in  which  their  public  con- 
tributions should  be  appropriated  vested  in  the  contributors 
themselves ;  and  yet  more :  every  man  felt  that  the  people 
themselves  had  a  right  to  establish  a  form  of  government 
which  should  confirm  them  in  the  enjoyment  of  these  privi- 
leges conferred  upon  them  by  the  Creator.  These  sentiments 


308     THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

gradually  extended  until  they  became  universal.  The  current 
of  public  opinion  was  thus  silently  undermining  the  founda- 
tions of  hereditary  authority.  At  last  every  thing  was  pre- 
pared for  a  crisis,  when  the  revolution  in  France  gave  the 
signal  for  change.  Humanity  throughout  the  continent  uttered 
its  voice.  The  system  of  prescriptive  right  and  kingly  pre- 
rogative tottered  but  for  a  moment,  and  then  sank  into  the  abyss 
like  lead  in  the  mighty  waters.  Thus  ought  to  perish,  and 
thus  must  perish,  every  institution,  whether  at  home  or  abroad, 
at  variance  with  the  freedom  with  which  God  has  endowed  the 
intellect  and  the  conscience  of  man. 

It  may  be  well,  in  closing,  to  glance  for  a  moment  at  those 
proximate  causes  which,  at  this  particular  time,  have  quickened 
into  action  the  elements  of  revolution. 

Among  the  earlier  causes  we  may,  I  think,  assign  the  most 
important  place  to  the  reformation  by  Martin  Luther.  Then, 
first,  in  later  times,  was  successfully  asserted  the  right  of  every 
human  being  to  interpret  the  Scriptures  for  himself.  But  the 
acknowledgment  of  this  right  involves  also  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  every  other  kindred  right ;  and  thus  the  mind  of  man 
was  placed  in  that  line  of  progress  which  must  lead  to  civil 
liberty  as  its  necessary  result.  In  fact,  wherever  the  Bible  is 
read,  and  man  learns  the  nature  of  his  responsibility  to  God, 
he  learns,  at  the  same  time,  his  right  to  do  as  he  pleases, 
provided  he  violate  the  rights  of  no  other  human  being. 

But  even  the  promulgation  of  the  doctrines  of  the  reforma- 
tion would  have  been  of  little  avail,  had  not  the  art  of  printing 
been  at  the  same  period  invented.  By  this  art,  unlimited 
power  is  given  to  human  thought,  and  the  conceptions  of  one 
mind  are  almost  simultaneously  transferred  to  the  minds  of 
millions.  He  who  can  utter  the  voice  of  human  nature  has 
mankind  for  his  audience,  and  his  winged  words  find  a  home 
in  every  man's  bosom.  Thus  whole  nations  are  aroused  from 
their  slumbers  at  the  announcement  of  an  elementary  truth. 
Physical  force  becomes  paralyzed  in  the  presence  of  reason  ; 
"  powers,  and  dominions,  and  potentates  "  are  arraigned  at  the 


THE    RECENT    REVOLUTIONS    IN    EUROPE.  309 

bar  of  eternal  justice,  and  stand  or   fall  by  the  decision  of 
the  universal  reason  and  conscience  of  mankind. 

But  even  this  advantage  to  the  cause  of  truth  could  scarcely 
have  been  gained,  had  not  other  events  conspired  to  give  au- 
thority to  its  lessons  of  instruction.  After  men  are  thoroughly 
convinced,  they  for  a  long  time  hesitate  before  they  dare  to  carry 
their  convictions  into  practice.  They  prefer  "  to  bear  the  ills 
they  have,  rather  than  fly  to  others  that  they  know  not  of." 
Hence  an  important'  point  is  gained  when  they  can  see  the 
theory  which  they  all  believe  to  be  true,  reduced  to  the  test  of 
successful  experiment.  These  views  of  the  rights  of  man  had 
been  first  practically  exemplified  in  the  adoption  of  our  own 
constitution.  The  experience  of  half  a  centuiy  had  demon- 
strated that  it  was  possible  for  mankind  to  live  in  unbounded 
prosperity,  and  that  the  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness,  might  be  amply  secured  to  every  individual, 
under  a  purely  elective  government,  with  perfect  freedom  of 
political  and  religious  opinions  ;  that  religion  might  exert  its 
appropriate  influence  over  the  minds  of  men  wholly  unsup- 
ported by  the  civil  authority ;  and,  in  a  word,  that  a  people 
could  govern  themselves,  and  accomplish  all  the  purposes  of  a 
civil  society,  without  the  aid  of  military  force,  and  unencum- 
bered with  those  expensive  establishments  which  seem  neces- 
sary to  the  existence  of  hereditary  authority.  The  knowledge 
of  the  working  of  our  experiment  thus  brought  the  peasantry 
of  Europe  by  thousands  to  our  shores,  and  the  correspondence 
of  these  emigrants  with  their  friends  at  home  diffused  republi- 
can opinions  among  every  people  on  the  continent.  Men  thus 
became  generally  convinced  that  not  only  universal  freedom 
was  demanded  by  the  laws  of  our  spiritual  nature,  but  that  a 
system  of  government  might  be  framed,  in  accordance  with 
those  laws,  fraught  with  richer  blessings  to  humanity  than  had 
been  even  hoped  for  under  any  of  the  forms  of  ancient  civil- 
ization. That  I  do  not  overstate  the  influence  of  this  country 
in  creating  this  change  of  opinion  is,  I  think,  evident  from 
the  fact  that  in  every  nation  the  friends  of  freedom  have 


310     THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  Et ROPE. 

instinctively  turned  to  us  as  their  example  ;  and  the  question 
which  they  have  asked  is,  not  whether  our  social  principles 
are  true,  but  whether  their  own  condition  will  justify  the 
attempt  to  carry  them  at  once  to  their  legitimate  results. 

These  various  causes  have,  as  I  apprehend,  derived  in- 
creased efficacy  from  the  results  of  the  peace  which  the  civ- 
ilized world  has  enjoyed  since  the  battle  of  Waterloo.  There 
can  be  small  opportunity  for  deliberate  thought  amidst  the 
turmoil  of  war ;  much  less  can  the  love  of  right  be  cultivated 
by  the  habitual  perpetration  of  atrocious  wrong.  Peace,  on 
the  contrary,  directs  the  minds  of  men  to  reflection,  and 
naturally  disposes  them  to  yield  obedience  to  law,  and  to 
examine  the  nature  of  the  law  to  which  they  acknowledge 
subjection.  Hence  I  think  it  will  be  found  that  those  changes 
of  public  opinion,  from  which  all  social  improvement  emanates, 
are  the  result  of  long-continued  peace.  It  would  be  strange 
if  it  were  otherwise.  We  could  hardly  expect  that  liberty, 
the  greatest  of  sublunary  blessings,  should  spring  from  a  soil 
reddened  with  slaughter,  or  be  cherished  in  bosoms  mad- 
dened by  passions,  stimulated  to  ferocity  by  uncontrolled 
gratification. 

And,  besides  this,  the  development  of  national  resources, 
and  the  consequent  improvement  of  the  condition  of  the 
industrial  classes  during  a  period  of  peace,  effect  important 
changes  in  the  relative  position  of  the  different  orders  of 
society.  A  middle  class  is  thus  created,  vicing  in  intelligence 
with  the  higher  ranks  in  the  state,  and  yet  allied  by  their  pur- 
suits to  the  great  masses  of  the  population.  Such  men 
become  easily  capable  of  observing,  with  the  chancellor  of 
Sweden,  "  By  how  little  wisdom  the  world  is  governed  !  " 
Their  sturdy  common  sense  comes  in  conflict  with  the  dogmas 
of  prescriptive  authority  ;  they  feel  the  practical  evils  of  mis- 
government  and  oppression,  and  they  trace  them  to  their 
sources ;  and,  although  their  opinions,  by  a  blind  fatality, 
are  always  unheeded  by  the  few  who  rule,  they  spread  with 
electric  rapidity  among  the  millions  who  are  ruled.  In  this 


THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE.     311 

manner,  the  public  sentiment  of  a  nation  is  created,  and  noth- 
ing is  wanting  but  some  occurrence  which  shall  call  it  into 
action,  and,  by  arousing  the  universal  will,  transform  into  its 
own  likeness  the  elements  of  social  organization.  Such  an 
event,  to  the  continent  of  Europe,  was  the  late  revolution  in 
France.  It  dissipated  the  darkness  in  which  the  nations  were 
enveloped,  and  revealed  to  the  world  the  true  state  of  public 
opinion  on  the  subject  of  government.  The  fact  was  at  once 
disclosed,  that  no  divine  ordinance  hedges  about  the  majesty 
of  thrones,  but  that  they  are  really  and  of  right  dependent 
for  their  existence  on  the  will  of  the  people.  It  was  seen,  by 
repeated  experiments,  that  a  few  men,  representing  the  sen- 
timents of  the  whole,  were  clothed  with  a  might  which  no 
government  could  resist.  The  claims  of  humanity  were  thus 
urged  in  capital  after  capital,  and  every  where  they  have 
been  urged  successfully ;  until,  at  the  present  moment,  society 
on  the  continent  is  in  a  state  of  fusion,  and  every  thoughtful 
man  is  asking  himself  what  are  the  forms  which  these  ele- 
ments will  assume,  when  they  shall  crystallize  into  permanent 
and  veil-defined  masses. 


THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE- 


PART  ii. 

"  BE  WISE  NOW,  THEREFORE,  O  YE  KINGS  ;  BE  INSTRUCTED,  YE  JUDGE3 
OP  THE  EARTH.  SERVE  THE  LORD  WITH  PEAK,  AND  REJOICE  WITH 
TREMBLING.  KlSS  THE  SON,  LEST  HE  BE  ANGRY,  AND  YE  PERISH 
PROM  THE  WAY,  WHEN  HIS  WRATH  IS  KINDLED  BUT  A  LITTLE. 
BLESSED  ARE  ALL  THEY  THAT  PUT  THEIR  TRUST  IN  HIM." 

Psalm  ii.  10—12. 

IN  the  preceding  discourse  from  these  words,  I  endeavored 
briefly  to  recall  the  events  which,  within  a  few  months,  have 
transpired  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  to  indicate  the 
causes  in  which  they  had  their  origin.  I  propose,  this  after- 
noon, to  suggest  some  of  the  results  to  which  they  tend,  and 
some  of  the  lessons  which  they  may  be  supposed  to  inculcate. 

We  naturally  inquire,  in  the  first  place,  What  are  the  forms 
which  European  institutions  are  henceforth  to  assume  ?  and 
what  are  the  channels  which  society  will  mark  out  for  itself, 
after  the  waters  of  the  present  deluge  shall  have  subsided  ? 

On  this  subject  it  would  be  evidently  vain  to  hazard  any 
thing  more  than  a  conditional  opinion.  No  one  can  possibly 
foresee  the  direction  in  which  nations  thus  excited  will  move, 
unless  he  can  lay  claim  to  a  knowledge  of  their  intellectual 
and  moral  character,  such  as  cannot  be  possessed  by  a  created 
understanding.  Every  thing  now,  for  the  first  time,  will 
depend  upon  the  ability  which  the  people  possess  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  advantages  thus  unexpectedly  placed  at 
their  disposal.  But  what  that  ability  is,  I  think  we  cannot 


THE    RECENT    REVOLUTIONS    IN    EUROPE.  313 

possibly  determine  until  after  it  has  been  subjected  to  the  test 
of  experiment.  All  that  we  can  do,  in 'such  a  case,  is  to 
indicate  the  conditions  by  which  the  future  must  be  governed. 

On  this  subject  I  cannot  perfectly  agree  with  many  whose 
opinions  I  would  always  treat  with  unfeigned  respect.  I  hear 
it  frequently  said,  that  neither  France,  nor  any  other  of  the 
nations  of  Europe,  is  prepared  for  self-government,  and  that 
hence  all  this  social  agitation  will  be  productive  of  no  prac- 
tical result ;  since,  from  the  necessity  of  the  case,  quiet  can 
only  be  restored  by  falling  back  upon  a  more  firmly  rivetted 
despotism. 

To  this  I  reply,  in  the  first  place,  it  has  always  been  the 
apology  of  despots,  that  the  oppressed  were  incapable  of  self 
government ;  and  I  therefore  receive  this  opinion  with  caution 
and  distrust.  It  may  be  that  the  most  intelligent  nations  of 
Europe  are  incompetent  to  govern  themselves  ;  but  I  think 
we  ought  not  to  affirm  it  until  the  experiment  has  been  fairly 
tried.  At  the  close  of  Our  war  of  independence,  the  man 
would  have  been  considered  insane  who  had  predicted  the 
results  which  have  flowed  from  free  institutions  during 
the  last  half  century.  There  is  more  to  be  hoped  for  from 
the  human  race,  if  they  be  fairly  let  alone,  than  many  men 
seem  disposed  to  allow.  God  has  placed  man  under  the 
influence  of  social  and  moral  laws,  and  he  may  be  left  to 
the  guidance  of  those  laws  with  more  safety  than  has  been 
frequently  imagined.  At  any  rate,  I  would  as  willingly  leave 
men  to  the  operation  of  the  laws  under  which  they  have  been 
created,  as  intrust  them  to  the  irresponsible  rule  of  men  in 
no  respect  better  or  wiser  than  themselves. 

But  suppose  it  to  be  so,  that  the  nations  of  Europe  — 
nations  the  farthest  advanced  in  civilization,  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  all  people  on  earth  for  intellectual  and  social 
culture  —  are  not  capable  of  self-government ;  they  surely 
ought  to  be.  God  evidently  intended  men  to  govern  themselves, 
for  he  gave  to  them  the  powers  necessary  to  self-government, 
and  with  the  exercise  of  these  powers  he  has  connected  the 
27 


314     THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

attainment  of  the  richest  blessings  of  the  present  life.  Why 
have  they  not  attained  to  that  condition  for  which  they  were 
designed  by  their  Creator  ?  If  ages  of  hereditary  rule  have 
left  them  incompetent  to  the  discharge  of  one  of  the  most 
important  duties  of  their  existence,  it  may  be  fairly  doubted 
whether  this  form  of  government  has  any  tendency  to  produce 
such  a  result.  If,  then,  irresponsible  authority  has,  during  so 
many  ages,  proved  itself  unable  to  teach  men  to  be  free,  we 
may  be  permitted  to  ask,  whether  they  may  not  perhaps  learn 
this  lesson  more  successfully  by  being  left  to  themselves. 

But  supposing  it  true,  that  the  people  of  the  continent  of 
Europe  are  unprepared  for  a  free  government.  This,  if  true, 
is  only  a  part  of  the  truth ;  for  the  events  of  the  past  three 
months  have  clearly  proved  that  they  will  no  longer  submit 
to  an  absolute  government.  The  permanent  reign  of  irre- 
sponsible power  in  the  civilized  world  is,  I  hope,  to  be  num- 
bered among  the  things  that  have  passed  away.  The  prestige 
of  the  throne  and  the  dynasty  is  gone,  it  may  be,  forever. 
That  institution  can  never  henceforth  be  an  object  of  venera- 
tion, which  can  be  subverted  or  overawed  by  a  small  assem- 
blage of  the  workmen  of  a  city,  in  the  sight  of  the  very 
army  enrolled  and  maintained  for  the  sole  purpose  of  sup- 
porting it.  After  this  has  been  done,  within  the  compass  of 
a  few  weeks,  in  every  nation  on  the  continent,  we  must,  I 
think,  conclude  that  despotic  governments  are  from  this  time 
forth  impracticable. 

You  perceive,  then,  the  conclusion  to  which  we  are  led. 
It  is  said  that  the  nations  are  incapable  of  free  government, 
while  the  event  has  proved  that  they  will  not  endure  a  des- 
potism. Suppose  both  of  these  assertions  true,  and  the  result 
to  which  we  must  arrive  is  obvious.  It  would  seem,  from  the 
existing  facts,  that  the  intellect  of  man  has  arrived  at  that 
point  of  culture  in  which  it  will  not  endure  oppression,  whilst 
its  moral  culture  is  yet  insufficient  for  the  enjoyment  of  free- 
dom. «A  nation  in  this  condition  could  establish  permanently 
neither  form  of  government.  Its  history  would  present 


THE    RECENT    REVOLUTIONS    IN    EUROPE.  315 

nothing  but  a  succession  of  revolutions ;  as,  over  and  over 
again,  it  passed  through  the  usual  changes  from  freedom  to 
anarchy,  from  anarchy  to  despotism,  and  from  despotism  to 
fitful  and  short-lived  freedom. 

But  for  how  long  a  time,  it  may  be  asked,  could  these 
changes  continue  to  succeed  each  other  ?  I  answer,  until  by 
some  means  the  exciting  and  the  controlling  elements  of 
national  character  are  brought  into  equilibrium.  If  by  civil  or 
foreign  war,  intellectual  culture  were  suspended,  and  the  nation 
should  relapse  into  ignorance,  it  might  endure  a  despotism, 
until  the  natural  tendency  to  improvement  again  involved  it  in 
revolution.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  its  moral  culture  made 
progress,  so  that  it  became  capable  of  self-government,  it 
would,  of  course,  establish  free  institutions ;  and  these  would 
remain  permanent  so  long  as  the  causes  existed  in  which  they 
had  their  origin.  Or,  while  the  moral  and  intellectual  forces 
remained  as  before,  the  nation,  wearied  out  by  civil  war,  and 
prostrated  by  universal  insecurity,  might  acquiesce  in  any  form 
of  government  which,  for  the  moment,  promised  repose  ;  but 
the  struggle  would  again  be  renewed  as  soon  as  returning 
prosperity  restored  to  their  wonted  energy  the  passions  of  the 
human  heart. 

In  what  manner  these  great  problems  will  be  solved  on  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe  it  seems  now  impossible  to  predict ;  but  that 
the  solution  must  depend  upon  some  such  principles  as  these, 
seems  to  be,  at  least,  probable.  In  contemplating  this  subject, 
we  must  not,  however,  limit  our  views  by  the  belief  that  insti- 
tutions similar  to  our  own  are  alone  compatible  with  freedom. 
European  society  may  successfully  accomplish  the  highest 
purposes  of  civilization  with  forms  of  government  peculiar  to 
itself.  Confederated  monarchies,  responsible  to  the  people, 
may  be  better  adapted  to  their  present  culture  than  the  forms 
of  republican  government.  What  mankind  demands  is  rational 
liberty,  unrestrained  freedom  to  exercise  and  develop  our 
moral  and  intellectual  powers,  and  innocently  to  pursue  our 
own  happiness  to  any  extent  and  in  any  manner  that  we 


316     THE  RECENT  BEVOLUTIONS  IN  EUBOPE. 

choose  ;  and  it  becomes  us  to  rejoice  in  the  attainment  of  these 
objects,  by  what  means  soever  it  may  be  accomplished. 

If  the  views  which  I  have  here  taken  be  correct,  they  lead 
us  at  once  to  the  conclusion  that  our  only  hope  for  the  exten- 
sion of  human  freedom  rests  upon  the  cultivation  of  the  moral 
character  of  the  people.  The  intellectual  culture  of  the  civil- 
ized world  has  already,  I  hope,  become  incompatible  with 
despotism.  This  fact  alone  is  sufficient  to  render  permanent 
despotism  impossible.  But  the  nature  of  the  political  institu- 
tions that  shall  occupy  its  place,  depends  upon  the  power  of 
moral  restraint  exerted  by  the  conscience  of  the  people. 
Unless  every  man  be  disposed  to  respect  •  the  rights  of  his 
neighbor,  and  seek  his  own  happiness  within  the  limits  pre- 
scribed by  the  law  of  reciprocity,  the  overthrow  of  existing 
governments  can  confer  no  advantage ;  nay,  it  may  tend  to 
sink  the  nations  yet  deeper  in  barbarism.  Anarchy,  despotism, 
and  revolution,  will  succeed  to  anarchy,  despotism,  and  revo- 
lution ;  and  progress  will  be  impossible  until  the  children  of 
men  have  learned  that  the  Heavens  do  rule. 

And  hence  I  think  it  may  be  demonstrated  that,  in  our 
present  condition,  free  political  institutions  can  never  be  per- 
manently maintained  in  any  nation,  except  it  be  imbued  with 
the  precepts  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  truth  that 
every  man  is  responsible  for  all  his  actions  to  God,  presupposes 
the  right  to  universal  freedom,  and  thus  confirms  the  dictates 
of  a  spiritual  instinct,  by  the  solemn  sanctions  of  revealed 
religion.  He  who  has  learned  from  the  teachings  of  the 
Messiah  the  true  dignity  of  a  human  soul,  and  its  intimate 
relations  to  the  God  and  Father  of  all,  must  look  upon  all 
oppression  not  only  as  a  social  evil,  but  an  atrocious  wicked- 
ness. And  then,  again,  the  New  Testament  reveals  the  only 
means  yet  discovered  by  which  the  selfish  passions  of  man 
can  be  eradicated,  and  his  spirit  subjected  to  the  law  of  univer- 
sal charity.  In  a  word,  the  gospel  teaches  man,  first,  to  com- 
prehend his  own  nature  and  understand  his  own  rights  ;  and, 
secondly,  to  love  and  to  respect  the  rights  of  his  neighbor.  On 


THE    RECENT    REVOLUTIONS    IN    EUROPE.  317 

this  foundation,  and  on  no  other,  can  the  fabric  of  free  institu- 
tions be  successfully  reared  ;  on  these  conditions  alone  can  the 
progress  of  civilization  be  rationally  expected. 

Passing  now  from  the  consideration  of  these  political  pros- 
pects, let  us  proceed  and  inquire  whether  any  opinions  can 
reasonably  be  formed  respecting  the  tendencies  of  these 
remarkable  social  changes. 

In  the  first  place,  I  cannot  but  believe  that  these  events  will, 
in  the  end,  advance  the  cause  of  universal  peace. 

I  am  aware  that  this  assertion  may  seem  strange,  at  a  time 
when  every  nation  in  Europe  is  increasing  its  armies,  and 
when  France,  especially,  is  assuming  the  appearance  of  an 
intrenched  camp.  But  every  one,  I  think,  must  perceive  that 
this  whole  movement  is  directly  at  variance  with  the  lesson 
that  has  within  a  few  weeks  been  so  unequivocally  taught. 
These  changes,  the  greatest  that  Europe  has  ever  seen,  were 
not  the  creation  of  military  power.  Armies  did  not  make,  nor 
can  armies  unmake  them.  They  were  the  effect  of  obvious 
truth,  presented,  by  means  of  the  press,  to  the  intellect  and  con- 
science of  man.  To  attempt  by  physical  force  to  maintain 
doctrines  which  physical  force  could  never  teach,  and  the 
teaching  of  which  it  could  not  restrain,  —  doctrines  which  by 
their  own  inherent  power  caused  the  armies  of  Europe  to  stand 
still,  —  is  manifestly  absurd.  The  organization  of  armies  at 
such  a  time,  is  nothing  more  than  the  falling  back  upon  old 
notions  which  recent  events  have  shown  to  be  untrue.  It  is  an 
iljustration  of  the  fact,  that  established  associations  frequently 
control  the  judgment,  after  their  fallacy  has  been  fully  demon- 
strated. But  reason  and  judgment  will,  in  the  end,  prevail. 
The  lesson  of  the  last  few  weeks  cannot  be  forgotten,  and  it 
will  yet  point  the  nations  in  the  direction  of  righteousness  and 
peace. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  reason  commonly  assigned  by  gov- 
ernments for  the  maintenance  of  standing  armies,  is  the  fear 
of  invasion  from  each  other.  This  may  be  a  reason,  but  I  can 
hardly  believe  it  to  be  the  controlling  reason.  It  seems  to  me 
27* 


318     THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

that  European  armies  have  been  maintained  not  so  much  for 
the  sake  of  protecting  nations  from  each  other  as  of  protecting 
governments  from  the  people.  The  people  have  rarely  cause 
of  complaint  against  each  other ;  while  they  have  frequently 
grave  cause  of  complaint  against  their  rulers.  But  late  events 
have  shown  that,  for  the  protection  of  dynasties,  and  the  sup- 
port of  thrones,  armies  have  proved  but  an  equivocal  reliance. 
In  almost  every  case,  the  soldier  seems  to  have  been  pervaded 
by  the  same  sentiments  as  the  people ;  and,  like  the  trees  of 
the  forest,  all  men  bowed  before  the  same  whirlwind  of  popular 
opinion.  The  uselessness  of  armies  for  the  very  purpose  for 
which  they  have  been  organized  having  thus  been  demonstrated, 
I  cannot  but  believe  that  rulers  will  the  more  readily  consent 
to  abolish  them.  The  government  that  truly  represents  the 
intellectual  and  moral  culture  of  a  people  does  not  need  them ; 
while  to  a  government  that  is  decidedly  at  variance  with  that 
culture  they  can  render  no  aid.  Hence  I  believe  that  armies 
will  gradually  be  dissolved,  and  that  thus  one  great  occasion 
of  war  will  be  taken  away. 

And  yet  more  :  I  think  it  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  the 
present  movements  must  subject  the  acts  of  government  much 
more  definitely  than  before  to  the  decision  of  public  opinion. 
Legislation  can  no  longer  remain  a  business  of  mysterious  and 
inexplicable  craft.  The  diffusion  of  a  knowledge  of  political 
economy  is  enabling  subjects  to  understand  and  expose  the 
follies  of  their  rulers,  and  is  teaching  men  that  true  states- 
manship rests  upon  simpler  principles  than  has  been  commonly 
supposed.  Of  eveiy  act  of  legislation  it  will  be  more  neces- 
sary than  before  to  show  the  right  and  the  utility.  So  soon 
as  the  military  establishments  of  Europe  are  examiuuu  by  these 
tests,  they  must  surely  be  reduced.  It  must  become  obvious 
that  free  governments  do  not  need  them ;  while  universal 
experience  testifies  that  they  are  liable  to  be  made  the  most 
dangerous  enemies  to  freedom.  Besides,  when  the  cost  of 
standing  armies  is  duly  considered,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
burden  which  they  impose  retards,  to  an  intolerable  degree,  the 


THE    RECENT    REVOLUTIONS    IN    EUROPE.  319 

progress  of  civilization.  The  peace  establishments  of  Europe 
have  been  lately  estimated  at  two  millions  of  men.  The 
expense  of  such  a  force  cannot  be  less  than  two  hundred 
millions  of  dollars.  If  to  this  sum  we  add  the  value  of  the 
industry  which  is  abstracted  from  the  productive  labor  of  the 
people,  the  amount  will  be  doubled.*  Four  hundred  millions, 
annually  added  to  the  net  earnings  of  the  operative  classes, 
would,  in  a  few  years,  abolish  pauperism  and  discontent  from 
Europe ;  or,  expended  in  support  of  popular  education,  would 
do  more,  in  twenty-five  years,  to  render  the  people  capable  of 
self-government  than  has  been  done  in  centuries  by  despotism. 
When  such  facts,  as  these  arc  fairly  brought  home  to  the 
understanding  of  every  man,  it  seems  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  they  will  lead  to  the  decision  so  clearly  indicated  by  every 
principle  both  of  justice  and  self-interest. 

Another  fact,  in  this  connection,  seems  worthy  of  a  passing 
remark.  A  tendency  clearly  exists  in  Europe  to  unite  the 
various  clusters  of  nations  into  confederated  monarchies.  If 
this  idea  be  realized,  it  cannot  but  be  productive  of  good.  A 
political  organization  which  should  extend  the  same  laws,  the 
same  currency,  and  the  same  rates  of  duty,  over  all  the  nations 
that  arc  pervaded  by  common  sympathies,  would  render 
armies  useless,  by  creating  a  sentiment  of  universal  brother- 

*  I  find  that  this  statement  of  the  cost  of  the  military  estab- 
lishments of  Europe  is  far  below  the  truth.  Mr.  Cobden,  a  most 
competent  authority,  as  I  learn  by  the  daily  papers,  estimates  the 
effective  force  of  the  regular  armies  of  Europe,  in  1847,  at  2,200,OOG 
men,  and  150,000  sailors,  and  the  national  guard  of  France,  Switzer- 
land, and  Germany,  at  1,000,000  —  a  total  of  3,3,30,000.  The  cost  of 
these  2,350,000  soldiers  and  sailors  alone,  at  the  rate  of  British  pay, 
•would  be  250,000,000  pounds  sterling.  The  loss  of  their  labor,  they 
being  men  in  the  vigor  of  life,  may  be  estimated  at  100,000,000  more, 
being  a  total  expense  of  350,000,000  pounds  sterling,  or  1,750,000,000 
dollars,  annually.  When  we  consider  that  this  inconceivable  amount 
is  drained  from  the  annual  earnings  of  the  people,  we  need  go  no 
fitrthcr  to  ascertain  the  causes  of  European  pauperism.  And  all  this 
•was  the  annual  expenditure,  in  a  time  of  profound  peace. 


320     THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

hood.  Separate  interests  would  be  supplanted  by  love  for  the 
common  weal ;  and  thus  it  may  be  hoped  that  the  spirit  of 
oppression  and  bloodshed  will  sink  into  repose.  God  grant 
that  it  be  the  repose  from  which  there  is  no  awaking. 

If  we  turn  in  another  direction,  we  shall  observe  other  ten- 
dencies manifesting  themselves  of  as  great  importance  as  those 
to  which  I  have  alluded. 

I  have  referred  to  the  demands  made  by  the  people  of  the 
continent  upon  their  rulers,  and  remarked  that,  to  us,  they 
seem  eminently  reasonable.  The  population  of  Germany 
require  that  their  governments  shall  be  established  upon  the 
principles  of  political  equality  to  every  citizen;  the  entire 
separation  of  the  church  from  the  state ;  express  acknowledg- 
ment of  religious  and  political  freedom ;  responsibility  of 
every  individual  in  the  public  employment ;  the  protection  of 
every  right  by  independent  courts,  and  by  juries,  in  political 
and  criminal  cases ;  the  protection  of  national  rights  by  a  Ger- 
man parliament,  and  the  separation  of  the  schools  from  the 
church.  To  us  it  seems  that  the  justice  of  these  demands  is 
self-evident.  Whether  the  governments  of  Europe  will  so 
consider  them,  it  is  impossible  to  predict.  But  one  thing,  at 
least,  has  been  gained.  The  rights  of  man,  as  an  intelligent 
and  responsible  being,  have  been  definitely  expressed ;  and 
the  expression  must  meet  a  response  from  every  human  hqart. 
Truths  like  these  stand  in  no  need  of  support  from  argument ; 
they  appeal  to  every  man's  consciousness ;  and  they  cannot  be 
obliterated  from  his  recollection.  Hence,  whether  sooner  or 
later,  they  must  work  out  their  necessary  result.  The  mist  of 
ages  has  cleared  away,  and  the  haven  has  been  discovered ; 
and  though  the  horizon  may  again  be  overcast,  and  progress 
for  the  time  be  arrested,  yet  henceforth  every  movement  will 
be  in  the  right  direction,  until  the  nations  repose  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  peace  and  soul-liberty. 

Sooner  or  later,  then,  the  era  of  free  opinions  must  com- 
mence throughout  Christendom.  Truth  may  then  be  spoken, 
without  fear,  wherever  and  whenever  <a  man  sees  fit  to  speak 


THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE.     321 

it.  Neither  civil  nor  ecclesiastical  power  will  then  be  able  to 
stifle  free  discussion.  Every  man  will  be  at  liberty  to  think 
what  he  pleases,  to  give  utterance  to  his  thoughts  as  he  sees 
fit,  and  to  make  as  many  converts  to  his  opinions  as  he  can. 
Speech  and  the  press  will  be  free  to  all.  Opinions  on  the 
most  important  subjects  may  be  universally  promulgated,  and 
a  pulpit  may  be  erected  In  eveiy  hamlet  in  Europe,  from 
which  may  be  published  the  good  news  of  salvation  by  the 
cross  of  Christ. 

All  this  is  well,  and  as  it  ought  to  be.  But  it  is  also  to  be 
remarked,  that  freedom  of  opinions  is  freedom  for  error  as 
much  as  for  truth.  A  man  has  the  same  civil  right  to  publish 
the  one  as  the  other.  The  law  which  removes  all  restriction 
from  the  publication  of  the  Scriptures,  also  removes  all  restric- 
tion from  the  publications  of  infidelity.  The  permission  to 
argue  in  favor  of  freedom  is  also  permission  to  argue  in  favor 
of  despotism.  The  liberty  to  teach  the  doctrines  of  republi- 
canism is  also  liberty  to  teach  the  doctrines  of  agrarianism. 
The  restraints  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authority  having  been 
removed,  the  unlimited  right  of  discussion  will  be  enjoyed ; 
and,  so  long  as  no  party  invades  the  rights  of  another,  it 
should  be  enjoyed  to  the  full.  In  accepting  the  advantages  of 
self-government,  we  must  accept  of  its  disadvantages  also.  In 
assuming  the  privileges  of  freemen,  we  must  also  assume  the 
responsibility  of  freemen.  When  society  has  arrived  at  ma- 
jority, it  must,  like  the  individual,  relinquish  the  protection  of 
the  statute  of  infancy. 

The  privilege  of  free  discussion  will  then  be  employed 
universally  for  evil  as  well  as  for  good.  Truth  and  error  will, 
for  the  first  time  throughout  the  whole  extept  of  Christendom, 
meet  each  other,  face  to  face,  without  the  slightest  veil  to 
obscure  the  features  of  cither.  "  Opinions,  wise  and  unwise, 
healthful  and  deleterious,  on  all  subjects,  civic,  social,  moral, 
and  religious,  will  find  in  abundance  earnest  and  able  advo- 
cates. Every  form  of  government,  every  article  of  religious 
belief,  every  mode  of  religious  practice,  evciy  right  of  man 


322     THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

that  is  capable  of  being  asserted,  and  every  system  of 
morals  that  human  ingenuity  can  propose,  will  pass  under 
review,  will  be  examined  with  all  the  analytical  power  with 
which  the  intellect  of  man  is  endowed,  and  will  be  enforced 
with  that  eloquence  which  can  only  be  aroused  by  the  con- 
viction that  he  who  speaks  has  intelligent  humanity  for  his 
audience. 

And  hence,  I  think,  there  must  result  a  development  of 
intellect  such  as  the  world  has  never  before  witnessed.  The 
stimulus  of  universal  freedom  will,  then,  for  the  first  time, 
be  applied  to  the  mind  of  man.  The  intellect  thus  excited 
will  be  directed  to  questions  of  which  many  will  be  new,  —  all 
of  them  of  surpassing  interest,  and  deeply  affecting  the  most 
important  relations  of  which  a  human  being  is  capable.  The 
authority  of  precedent  will  decline,  and  every- question  will  be 
tried,  hot  by  the  opinions  of  the  past,  but  by  the  newly- 
awakened  intellect  of  the  present.  Every  man  will  claim  to 
know  the  reason  for  that  which  he  is  expected  to  believe,  and 
the  grounds  of  that  authority  which  he  is  expected  to  obey. 
Individual  man,  coming  forth  from  the  prison-house  of  past 
ages,  and  looking  abroad  in  the  clear  light  of  intellectual  day, 
will  claim  the  privilege  of  seeing  with  his  own  eyes,  and  hear- 
ing with  his  own  ears,  and  feeling  with  his  own  hands.  When 
the  human  mind,  thus  excited,  puts  forth  universally  its  new- 
born strength,  its  progress  must  be  more  rapid  than  we  have 
ever  before  seen.  The  covering  will  be  removed  which  ages 
of  despotism  have  spread  over  truth,  and  an  energy  be  com- 
municated to  the  human  faculties  such  as  they  have  never 
before  possessed. 

And  if  these  remarks  be  true,  they  will,  1  think,  lead  us  to 
expect  that  the  light  that  shall  illuminate  the  world  will  not 
arise  from  the  class  of  the  learned,  —  scholars,  diplomatists,  and 
statesmen,  profoundly  skilled  in  the  knowledge  of  the  past, — 
but  rather  from  the  more  unsophisticated  mind  of  those  who 
occupy  the  middle  walks  of  society.  It  has  been  well  said, 
that  the  highest  achievement  of  genius  is  to  see  things  as  they 


THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE.     323 

are.  In  matters  which  come  within  the  province  of  the  instinc- 
tive consciousness,  accumulated  learning  frequently  leads  us 
to  look  at  things  as  they  are  not.  Learning  too  often  prides 
itself  rather  in  teaching  what  has  been  of  old  time  believed, 
than  in  determining  what  is  actually  true.  It  is  liable  to  teach 
us  reverence  for  our  leader,  until  we  dare  to  move  in  no 
direction  unless  we  see  the  print  of  his  footstep  ;  and  hence  we 
not  only  lose  the  vigor  of  unrestrained  freedom,  but  we  can  go 
no  farther  than  he  has  gone  before  us.  In  opposition  to  all 
this,  the  common  mind,  thoroughly  awakened,  listens  to  the 
voice  of  its  own  instincts,  and  thence  derives  lessons  of  truth 
which  precedent  and  authority  can  never  teach.  The  number 
of  acknowledged  first  truths  will  thus  be  greatly  increased,  and 
many  a  time-honored  doctrine  will  be  exploded.  The  foun- 
dations of  human  institutions  will  rest  more  directly  upon  the 
well-known  ele'ments  of  human  character.  The  voice  of  our 
common  nature  will  utter  truths  which  will  be  comprehended 
by  all;  and  hence  a  public  opinion  will  be  formed,  that 
must  exert  its  transforming  effect  upon  the  whole  framework 
of  society. 

In  making  these  remarks,  I  beg  it  to  be  borne  in  mind,  that 
I  speak  merely  of  tendencies,  and  not  of  the  time  or  the  man- 
ner in  which  they  shall  manifest  themselves.  Important  social 
revolutions  rarely  advance  in  straight  lines.  Obstructions  turn 
the  movement,  after  it  has  commenced,  sometimes  to  the  one 
side,  and  sometimes  to  the  other.  The  course  may  thus  be 
varied,  but  the  tendency  remains  the  same ;  it  gains  strength 
by  delay,  and  accumulates  momentum  by  assimilating  with 
itself  every  analogous  impulse ;  until,  having  overcome  every 
obstacle,  it  exerts  its  rightful  power  over  the  character  of  man. 
There  may  be  in  the  case  before  us  much  to  obstruct  the 
progress  of  free  opinions.  The  selfishness  of  the  human  heart 
may  engender  fierce  collision.  Ignorance  of  the  principles  of 
our  social  nature  may  construct  many  a  system  utterly  sub- 
versive of  human  happiness.  Many  things  may  retard  the 
result  which  we  hope  for,  but  they  cannot  change  the  tendency 


324      THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

which  God  himself  has  impressed  upon  our  nature.  Thus, 
when  a  mighty  river  issues  from  its  source,  the  law  of  gravi- 
tation must  bring  it  inevitably  to  the  level  of  the  ocean.  It 
will  flow  for  a  thousand  miles  at  the  base  of  the  mountains 
that  arrest  its  course,  collecting  strength  from  the  streams 
which  are  nourished  in  the  summits  of  the  barrier  itself,  until, 
swollen  to  irresistible  force,  it  overcomes  every  obstacle,  and 
sweeps  its  triumphant  way  through  a  multitude  of  nations ;  at 
last,  gathering  volume  as  it  proceeds,  at  the  spot  marked  out 
by  the  laws  of  its  being,  it  pours  itself  into  the  ocean  bay, 
bearing  on  its  waters  the  riches  of  a  continent,  and  inviting 
mighty  navies  to  repose  upon  its  bosom. 

In  the  commencement  of  these  discourses  I  spoke  of  the 
agency  of  God  in  the  production  of  these  stupendous  changes. 
They  present  us  with  a  conception  of  the  power  and  wisdom 
of  the  Supreme  Being,  such  as  has  rarely  been  seen  in  the 
history  of  our  world.  By  a  single  word,  he  causes  the  nations 
to  tremble,  and  by  the  breath  of  his  mouth,  prostrates  institu- 
tions whose  foundations  have  been  laid  in  the  deep  recesses  of 
by-gone  centuries.  On  such  an  occasion,  we  feel  the  appro- 
priateness of  the  imagery  with  which  the  pen  of  inspiration 
attempts  to  set  forth  his  almightiness.  "  He  sitteth  upon  the 
circle  of  the  earth,  and  the  inhabitants  thereof  are  as  grass- 
hoppers." "  The  nations  are  as  a  drop  of  the  bucket,  and  are 
counted  as  the  small  dust  of  the  balance.  Behold,  he  taketh  up 
the  isles  as  a  very  little  thing.  All  nations  before  him  are  as 
nothing,  and  they  are  counted  by  him  as  less  than  nothing  and 
vanity."  When,  from  our  lowly  dwelling-place  upon  his  foot- 
stool, we  survey  the  changes  wrought  by  his  wonder-working 
providence,  we  first  look  upward  to  his  throne  with  solemn 
awe ;  and  then,  in  the  language  of  filial  confidence,  declare, 
"  The  Lord  reigneth ;  let  the  earth  rejoice  ;  let  the  multitude  of 
the  isles  be  glad  thereof." 

Of  the  manner  in  which  the  Most  High  accomplishes  his 
purposes  in  other  parts  of  the  universe  we  know  nothing ;  but 
on  earth  he  acts  through  the  agency  of  man.  God  always 


THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE.     325 

works  when  men  work  in  obedience  to  his  commandments. 
This  is  true  on  all  occasions,  but  it  is  especially  manifest  at 
such  crises  of  the  destiny  of  our  race  as  are  at  present  passing 
before  us.  The  feature  most  prominent  in  the  aspect  of 
present  events,  seems  to  me  to  be  the  immense  unfolding  of 
moral  opportunity.  If  the  present  opportunities  be  improved, 
blessings  of  which  we  have  no  conception  may  be  secured  to 
mankind ;  if,  on  the  contrary,  they  be  neglected,  darkness 
may  again  overspread  the  nations,  and  those  tendencies  which 
God  has  implanted  will  work  out  their  result  in  other  and  dis- 
tant ages,  and  possibly  in  countries  which  are  now  reposing  in 
darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death. 

The  signs  of  the  times  seem  to  me  to  indicate  that  the 
blessings,  both  civil  and  religious,  which  we  at  present  enjoy, 
can  neither  be  retained  nor  rendered  permanent,  without  more 
strenuous  and  self-denying  exertion  than  we  have  commonly 
supposed  sufficient.  None  of  the  gifts  of  divine  Providence 
are  bestowed  upon  us,  except  through  the  intervention  of  our 
own  exertions.  Specially  is  this  the  case  in  respect  to  the 
social  blessings  by  which  we  are  surrounded.  If  we  desire  the 
tone  of  public  sentiment  to  be  healthful,  we  must  labor  to 
purify  it.  If  we  would  have  our  fellow-men  wise  and  good, 
we  must  strive  to  render  them  such  both  by  precept  and 
example.  If  public  opinion  is  to  rule  the  world,  we  shall  be 
badly  ruled  unless  that  public  opinion  be  conformed  to  the 
standard  of  rectitude.  Nor  is  the  bearing  of  these  truths 
limited  to  our  own  country.  All  nations,  henceforth,  will  be 
reciprocally  more  and  more  influenced  by  each  other.  The 
social  agitations  of  Europe  will  extend  to  Our  own  country. 
Hence  it  becomes  us  to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  our  charity, 
until  it  encircles  the  whole  family  of  man.  No  effort  should 
be  spared  by  any  good  man  to  diffuse,  in  every  direction,  the 
benefits  of  .knowledge  and  the  blessings  of  religion.  Nor  is 
this  a  work  that  can  be  done  by  the  distribution  of  funds,  or 
the  organization  of  associations.  Every  man  has  a  personal 
(interest  iu  the  condition  of  his  race  ;  and  he  must  put  forth  his 
28 


326  THE    RECENT    REVOLUTIONS    IN    EUROPE. 

own  personal  effort  in  earnest,  if  he  desire  to  influence  for 
good  the  destinies  of  mankind. 

We  may  reasonably  expect  that  every  possible  theory  of 
civil  government  will  be  proposed,  and  that  resolute  efforts 
will  be  made  to  reduce  them  all  to  practice.  When  men  first 
begin  to  think  for  themselves,  they  seem  naturally  to  suppose 
that  no  one  has  ever  ventured  to  think  for  himself  before. 
When  liberty  to  change  has  been  for  the  first  time  enjoyed, 
we  are  apt  to  imagine  that  we  enjoy  it  to  no  purpose,  unless 
we  overturn  all  that  Jias  thus  far  been  established.  It  becomes 
us  to  show  that  the  liberty  to  think  does  not  involve  the  neces- 
sity of  thinking  absurdity;  and  the  power  to  change  does  not 
impose  the  obligation  to  overturn  the  good  and  the  bad  indis- 
criminately. It  becomes  every  good  man  to  search  for  and 
understand  the  reasons  of  his  opinions ;  to  discriminate  accu- 
rately between  the  true  and  the  false ;  and  to  be  able  to  render 
the  line  of  separation  distinctly  visible  to  his  brethren.  He 
must  adhere  firmly,  and  without  faltering,  to  the  right  and  the 
true,  and  make  for  them  every  sacrifice  that  the  emergency 
may  demand.  He  must  learn,  at  whatever  cost,  to  surrender 
opinions  which  he  cannot  honestly  defend,  and  assert  with 
calm  self-reliance  whatever  his  intellect  and  conscience 
approve,  though  in  opposition  to  his  most  cherished  associa- 
tions. He  must  claim  for  himself,  and  for  all  men,  the  right 
of  individual  judgment ;  declining  dictation,  from  what  quarter 
soever  it  may  proceed,  and  yielding  his  assent  to  nothing  but 
clearly  apprehended  truth.  This  may  cost  mental  labor,  pecu- 
niary sacrifice,  the  loss  of  public  and  sometimes  of  private 
esteem  ;  but  these  must  be  endured  manfully,  if  we  would 
prepare  for  the  exigencies  of  the  present  crisis,  or  arouse  our 
fellow-men  to  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  for  progress 
which  is  now  presented  before  them. 

And  more  especially  are  these  obligations  imposed,  at  the 
present  period,  upon  every  disciple  of  Christ.  Every  argu- 
ment that  has  ever  been  urged  against  the  authenticity  of  the 
gospel,  or  the  obligatoriness  of  its  precepts,  will  be  pressed 


THE    RECENT    REVOLUTIONS   IN    EUROPE.  327 

anew  into  the  service  of  infidelity.  New  arguments  gathered 
from  the  wide  field  of  modern  discovery  will  be  wielded  with 
the  vigor  of  intellects  recently  delivered  from  the  thraldom  of 
precedent.  The  various  forms  of  perverted  Christianity, 
aroused  from  the  slumber  which  has  been  broken  by  the  crash 
of  absolutism,  will  assail  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel  with  a 
subtlety  rendered  desperate  by  the  annihilation  of  the  fast- 
nesses under  which  they  had  for  ages  taken  shelter.  At  such 
a  time  as  this,  no  good  man  can  find  leisure  for  frivolity.  He 
must  clearly  understand  the  meaning  of  the  gospel,  that  he 
may  know  what  to  defend,  as  well  as  what  to  renounce. 
Christians,  like  other  men,  must  inquire  for  nothing  but  truth, 
and  be  prepared  to  follow  wherever  it  may  lead  them.  The 
age  of  authority,  of  precedent,  and  of  -formalism,  both  in 
church  and  state,  is,  we  hope,  fast  passing  away.  We  must 
stand  prepared  to  relinquish  what  is  not  clearly  revealed  by  the 
holy  oracle,  and  to  maintain  whatever  is  thus  revealed  in 
presence  of  the  emancipated  intellect  of  man.  And  yet  more  : 
the  strongest  evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  gospel  is  found  in 
the  fruit  which  the  belief  of  the  gospel  produces.  "  Men 
know  that  they  •  do  not  gather  grapes  of  thorns,  nor  figs  of 
thistles."  Let  us  then  strive  to  bear  testimony  to  the  truth  of 
Christianity  by  lives  of  simple  godliness  and  fervent,  universal 
charity.  These  are  its  appropriate  and  exclusive  fruits. 
When  other  arguments  are  not  even  heard,  this  argument 
cannot  but  be  felt.  If  our  lives  shine  before  men,  "  they  will 
see  our  good  works,  and  glorify  our  Father  who  is  in  heaven." 
And  yet  how  powerless  is  human  effort  to  direct  such 
mighty  changes  !  We  instinctively  feel  that  "  unless  the  Lord 
build  the  house,  they  labor  in  vain  that  build  it;  unless  the 
Lord  keep  the  city,  the  watchman  waketh  but  in  vain."  How 
imperative  upon  us  is,  then,  the  duty  of  prayer,  both  for  our- 
selves and  for  all  men,  that  he  will  gird  us  with  strength  for 
the  approaching  contest,  and  that,  while  he  is  shaking  all 
nations,  "he  will  cause  the  desire  of  all  nations  to  come." 
The  hearts  of  all  men  are  in  his  hand,  and  he  can  turn  them 


328     THE  RECENT  REVOLUTIONS  IN  EUROPE. 

as  the  streamlets  of  water  are  turned.  In  this  era  of  the 
formation  of  new  opinions,  he  alone  can  direct  the  thoughts 
of  men  into  those  courses  which  tend  to  the  establishment  of 
truth  and  righteousness ;  or  he  can  suffer  them  to  fall  .  into 
those  channels  that  lead  down  to  the  bottomless  abyss.  At 
such  a  time,  they  who  fear  the  Lord  should  not  keep  silence ; 
but  give  him  no  rest  until  he  establish  Jerusalem  and  make  her 
a  praise  in  the  whole  earth.  It  is  upon  the  submission  of 
man  to  the  will  of  God  as  it  is  revealed  in  the  precepts  of  the 
gospel,  that  all  reasonable  hope  of  human  progress  ultimately 
rests.  Every  day  is  rendering  this  truth  more  evident ;  and 
whether  the  present  movements  end  in  success  or  failure,  they 
will  ultimately^serve  to  demonstrate  it  with  indisputable  clear- 
ness. "  Be  wise,  therefore,  ye  kings  ;  be  instructed,  ye  judges 
of  the  earth.  Serve  the  Lord  with  fear,  and  rejoice  with  trem- 
bling. Kiss  the  Son,  lest  he  be  angry,  and  ye  perish  from  the 
way  when  his  wrath  is  kindled  but  a  little.  Blessed  are  all 
they  that  put  their  trust  in  him." 


THE  END. 


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